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Press Office

The main aim of the National Galleries of Scotland’s Press Office is to achieve positive coverage for the Galleries' Collection, exhibitions and activities in the widest range of media. The Press and Information department staff work with a range of press, broadcast media and public body contacts in pursuit of constructive and informed public debate about the National Galleries.

The Press Office is the first point of contact for journalists seeking information. As a result, staff are in regular contact with all departments so as to maintain a constant awareness of current events.

The department holds regular Press Views for new exhibitions, liaises with journalists to achieve favourable and sometimes exclusive coverage of exhibitions, events or people within the Galleries, commissions and works with film-makers for specific projects and publicises new acquisitions. The Press Office also provides press releases, images and interviews for exhibitions and events.

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) is delighted to announce that the major redevelopment project for the Scottish National Gallery has passed the first crucial stage of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) application process.

The £15.3 m renovation, entitled Celebrating Scotland’s Art: The Scottish National Gallery Project (SNG Project), will triple the Gallery’s exhibition space and radically improve access to its world-class collection of Scottish art. An application to the HLF for £4.94 m has now received Stage 1 approval.

This project will mark a fundamental change in the way the Gallery presents historical Scottish art. Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery and the Project’s Director, said: “We are thrilled that this proposal has been passed to the next stage by the Heritage Lottery Fund. As holders of the world’s foremost collection of Scottish art, which includes such incomparable artists as Ramsay, Raeburn and Wilkie, our focus has always been on showing its significance and making it accessible to as wide a public as possible. Extending the Gallery space will transform the entire visitor experience."

Colin McLean, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, said: “This collection of art is one of Scotland’s most precious belongings. It has the potential to delight, inspire and inform audiences from Scotland and across the world. We are delighted to give our initial support to a project which will allow many more of these outstanding paintings to be displayed and accommodate many more visitors. We look forward to seeing the plans for the transformation of the Scottish collection galleries develop.”

Designed by the Scottish architect William Henry Playfair (1790-1857) and situated at The Mound in the centre of Edinburgh, the Scottish National Gallery is the most popular UK art gallery outside of London, attracting over 1.295 million visitors in 2014.

The ambition is to have the world’s most important collection of Scottish art realise its full potential, thus helping the public understand both the history and impact of Scottish art nationally and internationally.

The new presentation of Scotland’s art will combine a historical narrative, which will range from the 17th to the mid-20th century (including the Scottish Colourists), with dynamic and changing displays drawn from the riches of the collection.

The redevelopment will enhance visitor circulation throughout the Gallery and will take full advantage of advances in digital technology, to extend the reach of the collections to new audiences across the world. The project will also include an extensive programme of activity providing a wide range of opportunities for visitors, including digital, to engage with the Gallery and its collections.

Set to commence in 2016, the project will include the creation of a new landscaped public pathway and terrace, from the Princes St Gardens level, which will increase public access to the different parts of the NGS complex.

Gareth Hoskins Architects (GHA) – one of Scotland’s leading architectural practices – will oversee this major refurbishment. The practice has established its reputation for its design of arts and cultural schemes, and the SNG project follows recent major GHA developments, such as the RIAS Doolan Award-winning redevelopment of the National Museum of Scotland.

During the renovation, the Scottish National Gallery will remain open to the public with access to the spaces not affected by these plans. Construction is planned to commence in 2016, with works expected to be completed in the summer of 2018.

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Notes to Editors:

Gareth Hoskins Architects - Further Information

The practice has worked with a wide range of cultural organisations including the Victoria & Albert Museum, National Museums Scotland and the National Theatre for Scotland and is currently working with the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Strawberry Fields in Liverpool and Bird College of Arts in London. Further afield the practice designed Scotland’s pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2008 and recently won the international competitions for the Landesmuseum in Schleswig Holstein, the redevelopment of the Berlin State Library and the World Museum in Vienna.

Brief history of the Scottish National Gallery

Designed by the architect William Henry Playfair (1790-1857), the Scottish National Gallery and the adjacent Royal Scottish Academy building stand in the heart of Edinburgh. Although originally built as separate structures, their histories have long been intertwined, and since the completion of the Playfair Project in 2004, they have been physically joined by the underground Gardens Entrance.

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) cares for, develops, researches and displays the national collection of Scottish and international fine art and, with a lively and innovative programme of exhibitions, education and publications, aims to engage, inform and inspire the broadest possible public.

Architecture

Playfair was Scotland’s leading architect of his era and was responsible for a number of Edinburgh buildings, although histwo galleries on The Mound are generally regarded as his finest. These two classical temples to the arts achieved a picturesque harmony with the dramatic backdrop of Edinburgh Castle.

The latest phase in The Mound’s history saw the completion of a link between the Royal Scottish Academy Building and the National Gallery of Scotland. Award-winning architects John Miller and Partners rose to the challenge of developing the two grand architectural pedigrees for modern use. The newly refurbished RSA is now a world-class exhibition space, while the underground Gardens Entrance houses a range of new visitor facilities, including the Clore Education Centre, a 200-seat lecture theatre and cinema, an IT Gallery and a 120-seat restaurant.

Other NGS redevelopment projects

The Scottish National Gallery underwent a transformation with the Playfair Project completed in 2004. This £32 m project included the complete refurbishment of the Royal Scottish Academy and the creation of an underground link between the SNG and the RSA, with additional visitor facilities such as a lecture theatre, café, restaurant and shop. The transformation allowed the site to become one of the key visitor attractions to the city.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopened to the public on 1 December 2011 after a major £17.6 m refurbishment project. This was the first major refurbishment in the Gallery’s 120-year history and restored much of the architect’s original vision, opening up previously inaccessible parts of the building and increasing the public space by more than 60 percent.

20 March 2015Scotland to hold its first Instagram #empty event at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

SCOTLAND TO HOLD ITS FIRST INSTAGRAM #EMPTY EVENT AT THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art will be the first museum or gallery in Scotland to host an Instagram #empty event this weekend. On the evening of 21 March, the Gallery will give 35 Instagrammers exclusive access to explore the building and its exhibitions after-hours, and share their photos with the wider social media community, using the #empty hashtag.

Instagram is an online mobile photo- and video-sharing app with over 300 million active users. Its #empty movement aims to provide access to iconic cultural institutions once they are closed to the public, providing avid Instagrammers with a rare opportunity to engage with these beautiful spaces in a unique way. Previous #empty events were held at Tate Modern, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Musée du Louvre, Paris; The Guggenheim, New York and The Royal Opera House, London.

Among the Instagrammers invited to the #empty event are @wilde_oates and @jemmacraig, whose hugely popular feeds are followed by over 220,000 combined users. From 6pm on 21 March, photos from the #empty event will be shared on Instagram with the hashtags #empty, #emptyscotmodern and #WWIM11_Edinburgh. Additional images will be available on the National Galleries of Scotland’s own Instagram feed @natgalleriessco.

The #empty event will coincide with the Worldwide InstaMeet 11 (#WWIM11), taking place on 21 and 22 March where Instagrammers from across the world organise events to meet and take photos.

Simon Groom, director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art said: “We are delighted to open our doors to the Instagram community. Visiting the Gallery and our exhibitions outside of our opening times is a rare opportunity, and we hope it will be an inspiring experience. I look forward to seeing their photos.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS

Exhibitions currently on show at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) are:

ARTIST ROOMS Roy Lichtenstein A special three-room display dedicated to works by renowned American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), one of the most radical and influential artists of the twentieth century.

20th Century: Masterpieces of Scottish and International Art A historical overview of some of the most remarkable art made during the last century, the display shows the best of Scottish art alongside modern European masters including artists like William Turnbull, FCB Cadell, Steven Campbell, Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon and Oskar Kokoschka.

REFLECTIONS: A series of changing displays of Contemporary Art A dynamic and changing set of displays showcasing the work of a diverse range of internationally-renowned contemporary artists, including works by Louise Lawler, Taryn Simon, Cathy Wilkes, Martin Creed, Grabriel Orozco and Abraham Cruzvillegas.

16 March 2015Rare books that inspired Dalí and the Surrealists in new Edinburgh display

Rare copies of publications by revolutionary writers and artists William Blake, Lewis Carroll and the Marquis de Sade will go on show at Modern Two this spring, as part of a new display exploring the roots of the ground-breaking Surrealist movement. Surreal Roots: From William Blake to André Breton will combine 18th and 19th century publications, rarely shown to the public, with 20th century publications by key Surrealist figures such as Salvador Dalí.

The Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), Blake (1757-1827) and Carroll (1832-1898) were controversial figures whose writings challenged the religious and sexual taboos of their time. Some of the Marquis de Sade’s most controversial texts, including 120 Days of Sodom (1785) and Justine (1791), will be on display as part of the selection of boundary-pushing works that inspired the Surrealists.

Surrealism started in the 1920s in Paris, led by the French writer André Breton. The movement included artists Salvador Dalí and Rene Magritte, and was partly characterised by the scepticism of the generation that experienced the First World War. Surrealists drew on Freud’s work with psychoanalysis, specifically his theory that our memories and most basic instincts are stored in a layer of the human mind he called the unconscious, and looked to explore these through writing and art.

The poet and printmaker William Blake is another key figure whose visionary imagination appealed to the Surrealists. Surreal Roots will feature a rare 1797 copy of fellow poet Edward Young’s The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, for which Blake produced striking engravings based on his delicate watercolours. Blake produced a series of 537 watercolours, of which only 43 were selected for publication; the Surrealist poet André Breton described Young’s Night-Thoughts as ‘surrealist from end to end’. Two additional works on paper by Blake, on loan from the Scottish National Gallery collection, will compliment this rare first edition.

Other rare works included in the display will be Lewis Carroll’s original publications from the 1870s, such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. Carroll helped popularise the genre of literary nonsense with his use of other-worldly situations, and riddles which defy logic and language conventions. His writing appealed to a number of writers and artists in the Surrealist group, and these books will be shown alongside writing and illustrations by André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Hans Bellmer and Max Ernst.

The works on show draw primarily from the library of Roland Penrose (1900–1984), artist and patron closely involved in the Surrealist movement. Penrose forged friendships with writers and artists including Max Ernst, Paul Eluard and Joan Miró. Coming from a wealthy Quaker banking family, he inherited a number of antiquarian books from his grandfather, Baron Peckover, including works by William Blake, Milton, Dante and Oscar Wilde. Penrose built upon this literary foundation, adding to the library works by those writers and artists who inspired the Surrealists, as well as publications by the Surrealists themselves.

Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said: “Surreal Roots will showcase some of the highlights of our special books collection, with publications by subversive writers such as William Blake, the Marquis de Sade and Lewis Carroll, shown alongside the revolutionary texts and illustrations by the Surrealists which they inspired.”

Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, commented: “We’re delighted that support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery has been used to enable the National Galleries of Scotland to bring so many exhibitions and activities to life, and we’re particularly looking forward to Surreal Roots – a very rare treat. The special books collection at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is a world-class resource, and we are thrilled that players’ support is helping the Galleries showcase some of these truly enchanting works.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About People’s Postcode Lottery

People’s Postcode Lottery is a charity lottery. Players play with their postcodes to win cash prizes while raising money for charities and good causes across Great Britain and globally.

People’s Postcode Lottery is an External Lottery Manager and manages multiple society lotteries promoted by different causes supporting a range of good causes. For details on which society lottery is running each week, visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/society.

THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART APPOINTS MAIRI LAFFERTY AS THE DASKALOPOULOS CURATOR OF ENGAGEMENT

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to announce that Mairi Lafferty has been appointed to the role of The Daskalopoulos Curator of Engagement, and took up the post on 4 March 2015, for an initial three-year period. The post, which has been created and funded through the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, is a new role conceived to develop, extend and deepen public engagement with the Gallery’s ambitious public programme.

Based in the curatorial department at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Mairi Lafferty will work with colleagues from departments across the National Galleries of Scotland to lead on the conception, management and implementation of a programme of interpretation and engagement around the public programme. In particular she will work closely with the Education Department to create interpretive resources aimed at specific audiences; support curatorial colleagues to develop interpretative content and resources that meets the needs of visitors; and support the digitisation of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art collection.

Mairi holds a Masters of Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art and a first class honours degree in Fine Art, specialising in sculpture, from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee. Most recently, Mairi has been working as Digital Coordinator for GENERATION, on secondment from her role as Publishing Assistant in the NGS publishing department. In 2012, Mairi worked as Collections Research Assistant for the Demarco Archive Trust, and prior to that had been Cataloguing Assistant for the Demarco Archive at SNGMA. In 2009, she was an Artist in Residence as part of the Scottish Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale.

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Notes to editors:

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) looks after one of the world's finest collections of Western art ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day. Every year the NGS welcomes over 1.5 million visitors from Scotland and the rest of the world to our three Galleries sited in Edinburgh. These include the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Home to Scotland’s outstanding national collection of modern and contemporary art, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art comprises two buildings, Modern One and Modern Two. The early part of the collection at Modern One features French and Russian art from the beginning of the twentieth century, cubist paintings and superb holdings of Expressionist and modern British art. The Gallery also has an outstanding collection of international post-war work and the most important and extensive collection of modern Scottish art. Modern Two is home to a changing programme of world-class exhibitions and displays drawn from the collection. It also houses a fascinating re-creation of Eduardo Paolozzi’s studio. Also on display is The Stairwell Project, a large-scale, permanent work by 2009 Turner Prize winner Richard Wright.

Dimitris Daskalopoulos (born 1957 in Athens, Greece) is an entrepreneur and Chairman of DAMMA Holdings SA, a financial services and investment participations company. He served as the Chairman of the Board of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) for 8 consecutive years (2006-2014). He is today SEV’s Honorary President and BUSINESSEUROPE’s Vice President. From 1983 to 2007 he was the principal owner, Chairman and CEO of Delta Holdings/Vivartia SA, Greece’s largest food conglomerate. Dimitris Daskalopoulos is a collector of contemporary art, D.Daskalopoulos Collection (1994). He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Chairman of the Collections Council of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and an active member of the Tate International Council, the Director’s Vision Council of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Leadership Council of the New Museum and a founding partner of the Whitechapel’s Future Fund (2011). He is the founder of NEON (2013), a non-profit organization, which works to bring contemporary culture in Greece closer to everyone. Thematic exhibitions based on his collection have been presented at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (2010-2011), the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2011) and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2012-2013). In 2014 ICI honored Dimitris Daskalopoulos with the 2014 Leo Award. The award acknowledged Mr. Daskalopoulos's visionary approach to collecting, through the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, and his work in establishing NEON.

The work of a diverse range of internationally-renowned contemporary and modern artists is to be showcased throughout 2015 in REFLECTIONS, a dynamic new series of displays at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Major works from the Gallery’s permanent collection will be shown alongside important loans to highlight the many ways in which artists engage with, and reflect upon, the world around them, raising questions about society, the human form, materials, image-making and art itself.

REFLECTIONS includes recent work by British artists such as Cathy Wilkes and Martin Creed, the Americans Louise Lawler and Taryn Simon, and Mexican artists Gabriel Orozco and Abraham Cruzvillegas. The exhibition’s title was suggested by a number of large-scale prints by American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, which feature in a new ARTIST ROOMS exhibition, as part of the programme

At the heart of REFLECTIONS will be a selection of almost 50 drawings, prints and photographs of the human head, drawn from the National Galleries of Scotland’s historic, modern and contemporary collections. This fascinating display shows the incredible variety of approaches that artists have used in reflecting upon our sense of being in the world, and how we reflect ourselves to other people. Among the highlights will be two outstanding works by Pablo Picasso, including a recently-acquired cubist drawing, Head (1912).

The display also includes works from many different periods and styles to explore how ideas around the head have changed. It includes, for example, traditional portraits, such as Lorenzo Lotto’s 480 year-old Portrait of a Bearded Man and Edvard Munch’s Self-Portrait 1895, as well as more experimental treatments by Karl-Schmidt-Rottluf (St Francis, 1919); Francis Picabia (Subtlety, 1928); Eduardo Paolozzi (Head, 1946); Andy Warhol (Jacqueline Kennedy II, 1965); and Douglas Gordon (Monster, 1996/1997).

Other highlights of REFLECTIONS include a newly-acquired work by the acclaimed American photographer, Taryn Simon, A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters (2008-11). Produced over a four-year period, these photographic prints were made after Simon (b.1975) travelled the world researching and recording family lineages and their related stories. Each chapter contains a sequence of portraits and a central text panel containing narratives and footnote images. Absences, as a result of factors including imprisonment and military service, are included as ‘empty portraits’ to powerful effect. The work on show here, Chapter VIII, one of 18 chapters in the larger project, maps the devastating effects of foetal Thalidomide absorption through generations of one Scottish bloodline.

Martin Creed (b.1968) will be unveiling a newly-commissioned wall drawing made in response to Modular Structures (Sequential Permutations on the Number Five) 1972, a ‘structure’ work by the American minimalist artist Sol LeWitt (1928-2007). Employing a patchwork of over 170 different colours, this bright and expansive new wall painting will be shown alongside a series of Creed’s drawings and a recent work on canvas.

REFLECTIONS also marks the first time the work of influential American artist Louise Lawler will be shown in Scotland. Lawler is primarily known for using photography but her practice encompasses a range of media. The works on display at Modern One are part of a series of ‘tracings’ Lawler first made in 2013. For these, she selected a number of her own photographs and collaborated with a children’s illustrator to transform her compositions into line drawings, like those found in colouring books. Printed onto vinyl then pasted onto the gallery wall, the resulting images show the work of other artists, captured in a range of locations, from collectors’ homes to museum stores. Focusing on how objects have been arranged, and with domestic furniture, crates and trolleys given as much emphasis as the artworks themselves, these works explore how the specific context affects how we see and experience an artwork.

Also on display is a room devoted to work by two Mexican artists, Gabriel Orozco (b. 1962) and Abraham Cruzvillegas (b.1968). The Pinched series by Orozco features three beautiful abstract sculptures cast in highly reflective aluminium, which are scaled-up versions of shapes created by the artist pinching together a small piece of wax between his thumb and forefinger. Accompanying these works is a sculpture by Abraham Cruzvillegas entitled El Travieso (An Emotional Craft) 2012. Composed from a diverse range of materials primarily sourced by the artist in Mexico City and California, the work draws on the culture, music and dress of the Parisian Zazou, Californian Zoot Suiters and Mexican Pachuco movements.

The display will also feature We Are Pro Choice (2007), an important installation by the Glasgow-based artist Cathy Wilkes (b.1966), as well as video works by the French artist Aurélien Froment.

In Fourdrinier Machine Interlude (2010) – one of two featured videos by Dublin-based Froment – focus is turned to the intricate inner workings of the industrial paper machine. The camera follows back and forth the paper stock from the small tank, through the rotating grid of the machine in action, to the presses and dryers until it becomes a roll of paper. Overlaid is the voice of a child reading a text that takes the viewer back to the invention of paper making, through the shift from craft to industry, and ending with the invention of large-scale mass production.

Rooms will change over the course of the year, and details of upcoming rehangs will be advertised through our website and social media channels.

Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said: “REFLECTIONS promises to be an extremely popular series of displays covering a wide range of subjects and styles, offering a really good insight into the diverse ways in which artists from around the world reflect upon and construct images of the real”.

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6 March 2015Exhibition of ground-breaking artist Roy Lichtenstein comes to National Galleries of Scotland

A fascinating new exhibition devoted to the ground-breaking American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein is to open at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh this spring. Part of the ARTIST ROOMS collection and touring programme for 2015, this first presentation of newly-assembled works is made possible by the great generosity of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, New York. ARTIST ROOMS: Roy Lichtenstein will be complemented at SNGMA by a group exhibition entitled Reflections, which takes the American artist’s work as a point of departure.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) is among the most influential artists of the post-war period. He was a pioneer of Pop Art, the movement which came to prominence in New York in the early 1960s and ushered in a new era in art history. His instantly recognisable style, particularly his signature version of the Benday dot technique used in commercial printing, mimicked the mechanised, industrial look of mass-produced images. Drawing on commercial advertisements, comic books and cartoons for source material, Lichtenstein’s blurring of the boundaries between high and low culture would profoundly influence future generations.

The exceptional scope and richness of Lichtenstein’s work continues to provoke questions about the ways that images permeate our lives. This major three-room display will have at its centre 16 large-scale prints made in the 1990s which were recently placed on long-term loan to ARTIST ROOMS by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. These will be shown alongside iconic works dating from the 1960s, including the important early comic book painting In the Car (1963), from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s collection; and a bold, painted steel relief, Wall Explosion (1965), on loan from Tate in London.

These works explore some of the major themes that preoccupied Roy Lichtenstein throughout his career, with a particular focus on his fascination with reflections and mirroring. Reflections: Art (1988), an important large oil painting on loan from a private collection, will be complemented by five prints from the eponymous Reflections series. Made in 1990, these look back to the artist’s Pop Art period and feature images based on comic book stories of romance and war. Represented as though seen through glass, the images are partly obscured by abstract bands of colour, collaged elements, parallel lines and Lichtenstein’s trademark dots, which cleverly evoke the play of light across a glazed surface.

The exhibition also highlights Lichtenstein’s engagement with the history of art, evident in his playful reworking of the imagery of the giants of modern art such as Picasso and Monet. His two Modern Art prints from 1996 present Cubist-inspired portraits of comic book beauties. Shown beside these are examples from his Water Lilies series, which pays homage to Monet’s famous, late Nymphéas paintings. Lichtenstein’s large-scale versions are produced on steel, using complex printing processes that produce reflections and suggest the pattern of shimmering light as it hits water.

Late in his career Lichtenstein took up one of art history’s primary subjects, the female nude, as well as a series of Compositions expressing his lifelong appreciation of music, improvisation and composition. These witty visualisations show musical notes floating free from the stave and breaking out beyond the picture frame.

ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions are from the collection assembled by Anthony d’Offay. ARTIST ROOMS is jointly owned by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, and the Scottish and British Governments. ARTIST ROOMS On Tour is a partnership with Arts Council England, the Art Fund, and in Scotland, Creative Scotland, making available the ARTIST ROOMS collection to galleries and museums throughout the UK. Intended to inspire audiences, particularly young people, there have been more than 130 ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions, seen by over 31 million visitors since the touring programme was launched in 2009.

Creative Scotland

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com.Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland

Arts Council England

Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2010 and 2015, we will invest £1.9 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1.1 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.www.artscouncil.org.uk

The Art Fund

The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art, helping museums to buy and show great art for everyone. Over the past 5 years we’ve given over £26m to help museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections and placed hundreds of gifts and bequests, from ancient sculpture and treasure hoards to Old Master paintings and contemporary commissions. We awarded £1 million towards the original acquisition of the ARTIST ROOMS collection and have been instrumental in ARTIST ROOMS on Tour since its inception in 2009. We are independently funded, the majority of our income coming from over 107,000 members who, through the National Art Pass, enjoy free entry to over 230 museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions.

Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org

What: Picture opportunity - Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the National Galleries of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh.Who: Ben Thomson and Sir John Leighton from the National Galleries of Scotland, Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea and Professor Mary Bownes from the University of Edinburgh.Where: Scottish National Portrait Gallery,1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JDWhen: Tuesday 24 February 2015, 12pm

Two of Scotland’s leading cultural institutions are to enter into an official partnership that will extend the aspirations and resources of both establishments.

Under the terms of the new partnership, the National Galleries of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh will work together on academic endeavours and take advantage of their shared objectives and distinguished histories.

The Agreement provides a comprehensive framework for future collaboration between the two establishments, and sets out the scope for numerous prospective developments including joint research projects, collaborative exhibitions and the pooling of resources for the study of Scottish Art.

The agreement also aims to encourage more use of the National Galleries of Scotland’s collections by the University’s students, which total over 30,000 post- and undergraduates.

Founded in 1583, the University of Edinburgh has enjoyed a long-standing association with the National Galleries of Scotland. Since the foundations of the Galleries in 1850, there have been countless formal exchanges between the two organisations, with shared enterprises and representation in governance.

The University of Edinburgh boasts many illustrious alumni who feature in the collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, including the naturalist Charles Darwin, physicist James Clerk Maxwell and political economist Adam Smith.

Other notable portraits of former students of the University include the respective founders of geology and sociology, James Hutton and Adam Ferguson, the significant historians Thomas Carlyle and David Hume and novelists Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir James Matthew Barrie. University of Edinburgh alumni of more recent times to feature in the Gallery include author Ian Rankin, actor Robbie Coltrane and athlete Sir Chris Hoy.

A Memorandum of Understanding officially heralding the agreement will be signed in a ceremony at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Tuesday (24 February).

The signatories of the formal document will be Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal and Vice Chancellor and Professor Mary Bownes, Vice Principal of the University of Edinburgh, and Ben Thomson and Sir John Leighton, Chairman and Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland respectively.

Fittingly, the formal document will be signed within the The Age of Improvement exhibition, in front of Sir Henry Raeburn’s 1882 portrait of Sir Walter Scott. The author and poet of the Waverley novels began his studies at the University of Edinburgh at the age of twelve years old in November 1783, and later returned to the university to study law in 1789-90, undertaking classes in Moral Philosophy and Universal History.

Raeburn was – like Scott – an Edinburgh native and earned a knighthood for a long and illustrious career working as a portraitist. Arguably the best known of all Scottish painters, many of his most famous works remain in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland, including his portrait of Scott and the painting Rev Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch (about 1784).

Sir John Leighton, Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “We are thrilled to formalise our long-standing and fruitful association with the University of Edinburgh, further strengthening our ties with one of Scotland’s most distinguished educational institutions. The National Galleries looks forward to sharing, with the public, the prosperous results such an official affiliation will bring.”

Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said: “We are looking forward to developing a deeper working partnership with the National Galleries of Scotland. Recent projects between the two institutions have helped to illuminate the Galleries’ fantastic collections and added a valuable dimension to the University’s insight and learning. I look forward to greater collaboration, which will produce significant benefits for our students, staff and the wider public in years to come.”

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19 February 2015Unseen works by famous painter David Roberts set for Scottish unveiling

A selection of outstanding architectural drawings and watercolours by the famous Edinburgh-born artist David Roberts (1796-1864), most of them previously unseen, will go on show at the Scottish National Gallery this week. David Roberts: Drawings from the Helen Guiterman Bequest will showcase Roberts’ sketches and elegant watercolours of Scottish scenery, including views of well-loved Edinburgh landmarks such as a stunning panoramic view from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle and a dramatic watercolour of the interior of Rosslyn Chapel. Most of the 30 works on show, from the Gallery’s prints and drawings collection, have recently been conserved, revealing the vibrancy of Roberts’ fresh and vivid colours.

David Roberts was one of the most adventurous, prolific and successful British artists of the first half of the nineteenth century. Best known for his intrepid travels, he was among the first British artists to make extensive tours of the Near and Middle East. He was born in Edinburgh and first found success as a painter of theatrical scenery in Edinburgh and Glasgow, before settling in London in 1823, where his social circle included Charles Dickens, the painters David Wilkie and J M W Turner, and great critic John Ruskin. From London Roberts began to travel extensively to France, the Netherlands and Spain, followed in 1838 by the Middle Eastern adventure on which his popular reputation is still founded.

Both an easel painter and a draughtsman, Roberts is particularly celebrated for his treatment of architectural subjects; his sketches and watercolours exhibit great verve and accuracy, and his interiors are infused with spectacular, dramatic light effects. His early experience as a painter of theatrical scenery informed his skill in conveying the vast proportions and intricate detail of cathedrals, churches and panoramic landscapes, as seen in The Interior of Seville Cathedral (1837) and Dunfermline Abbey (1848).

Roberts returned often to Scotland, retaining strong links with friends and colleagues in Edinburgh. He was made a Freeman of the City of Edinburgh in 1858. His interest in architecture and particularly the buildings of his native city extended to campaigning for the preservation of John Knox’s house and Rosslyn Chapel and to submitting design proposals for the Scott monument.

Additional works in the display will include a calotype photograph of Roberts by the Scottish pioneers of photography David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, and the celebrated portrait of Roberts by Robert Scott Lauder (1803-1869) from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which shows the artist as the ultimate Oriental adventurer, wearing a flamboyant costume he had bought in Cairo.

Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, said: “We are delighted to be celebrating one of the great Scottish artists with this exhibition of Roberts's work. Like Sir Henry Raeburn, he was born in Stockbridge, so it is very fitting that both men's achievements can be viewed here in our National Gallery.”

The drawings and watercolours in this exhibition are part of the Scottish National Gallery collection, with the majority drawn from the Helen Guiterman Bequest to the Gallery, which was mediated by the Art Fund in 2008. From the 1960s Helen Guiterman (1916-1998) became the leading expert on Roberts, undertaking over 30 years of intensive research to re-establish his artistic legacy and, aged seventy, masterminding a major exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, in 1986.

Helen Guiterman was born in Bournemouth in 1916. She gained a diploma in Fine Art from the Slade School of Art in London, before studying textile design in New York. She spent most of her career as an interior designer for the architect’s department of Middlesex County Council and the London Borough of Haringey until her retirement in 1978. Helen Guiterman discovered Roberts when she bought two drawings by him for £3 in 1961. These inspired her to pursue ‘everything about Roberts’. She discovered that Roberts was a prolific writer of letters and journals – she began to trace and transcribe these. Thanks to her research, many of the drawings in her bequest to the Scottish National Gallery can be dated and related to specific incidents to Roberts’ journals and letters.

12 February 2015William Turnbull and FCB Cadell acquisitions among the highlights in new Edinburgh exhibition

Following the huge success of GENERATION, the nationwide celebration of 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland which took over the whole of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art for much of 2014, the Gallery is now planning a major rehang of masterpieces from its impressive permanent collection. The display will include four works by William Turnbull which were recently acquired by the Gallery through the Henry and Sula Walton Fund, with support from the Art Fund.

20th Century: Masterpieces of Scottish and European Art will feature important works from both British and European artists, and is set to explore the role of creativity as artists adapted and responded to events of the most rapidly-evolving and tumultuous century in human history. Demonstrating the vital links between artistic communities across the UK and mainland Europe, the display will trace and celebrate the major developments in twentieth-century art, from expressionism and cubism, to abstraction and Pop Art.

Crucially, some of the best of modern Scottish art will be placed alongside the work of modern European masters in an effort to examine the importance of international and local contexts.

For example, in the first room work by French artist Édouard Vuillard shares space with the Scottish Colourists JD Fergusson, Samuel Peploe and FCB Cadell, as well as Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh’s The Mysterious Garden (1911), while the final room will feature both Glasgow-born artist Steven Campbell’s Elegant Gestures of the Drowned after Max Ernst (1986) and Silenzioso Sangue (1979/85), by Italian painter Mimmo Paladino.

Major mainstays of the collection – such AS Pablo Picasso’s The Soles (1940) and Figure Study I (1945-46) by Francis Bacon – will be on show, as will Oskar Kokoschka’s Self-Portrait as a Degenerate Artist (1937), a long-term loan from a private collection. They will be joined by a number of new and recent additions, including For Sale (1961), the first work by New Zealand-born Pop artist Billy Apple (b.1935) to enter the collection.

There will also be a memorial display celebrating the work of the Scottish sculptor, painter and printmaker William Turnbull, who died in 2012. Turnbull was born in Dundee in 1922 and, like other artists of his generation, spent a number of years in Paris, where he met some of the century’s greatest artists, including Fernand Léger, Alberto Giacometti and Constantin Brancusi. Turnbull’s work ranges from delicate bronzes such as Heavy Insect (1949) to the large, totemic sculpture Night (1962-63), which combines carved rosewood and cast bronze elements. These will be shown alongside a group of important works, including the paintings Untitled (Aquarium) (1950) and 15-1958 (1958), and two bronze sculptures, Aquarium (1949) and Acrobat (1951), acquired by the Gallery in 2014 through the Henry and Sula Walton Fund, with assistance from the Art Fund. Also on show for the first time will be 23 works on paper – ink, watercolour and chalk drawings – which have been presented by the artist’s family through the Art Fund.

In addition the Gallery has recently been gifted three significant paintings by the Scottish Colourist painter FCB Cadell (1883-1937). They have been presented by members of the Ford family, in honour of Sir Patrick Ford (1880-1945), who supported the artist’s visit to Venice in 1910. All three works were painted during this trip, which proved to be a pivotal moment in the artist’s career.

It was in the north-eastern Italian city that Cadell’s handling of paint became looser and more expressive, and he experimented with increasingly vivacious colours, a decision which influenced much of his subsequent art. The new acquisitions, all flooded by intense sunlight, are On the Canal, Venice, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice and From the Calcina Hotel.

Keith Hartley, Deputy Director of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “The display of the Gallery’s permanent collection will show the range, depth and quality of what has been collected over the last 55 years, enabling us to tell some of the key stories of modern art and its development. Scottish art has played a distinguished role in these stories and it is fitting therefore that it should be shown in a truly European context.”

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Notes to Editors:

The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art, helping museums to buy and show great art for everyone. Over the past 5 years we have given over £26m to help museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections and placed hundreds of gifts and bequests, from ancient sculpture and treasure hoards to Old Master paintings and contemporary commissions. We also help museums share their collections with wider audiences through supporting a range of tours and exhibitions, including the national tour of the Artist Rooms collection and the 2013–18 Aspire tour of Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows. Art from Elswhere, a 2013– 16 Hayward Touring exhibition, supported by the Art Fund and curated by David Elliott, showcases work from the six collections awarded over £4m through the Art Fund International scheme.

Our support for museums extends to the Art Guide app — the comprehensive guide to seeing art across the UK, promoting a network of over 650 museums and galleries throughout the country, and the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year — an annual celebration of the best of UK museums, won in 2014 by Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

We are independently funded, the majority of our income coming from over 117,000 members who, through the National Art Pass, enjoy free entry to over 230 museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions.

Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.

WORKS BY FIVE CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS ACQUIRED BY THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to announce the acquisition of works by five artists from the landmark exhibition GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland, which will draw to a close on 25 January 2015. Works by Claire Barclay, Henry Coombes, Alex Dordoy, Torsten Lauschmann and David Shrigley will enter the Gallery’s collection as part of its on-going commitment to developing a world-class collection of contemporary Scottish art.

Claire Barclay’s major installation Trappings (2014) will be the first substantial work by the Glasgow-based artist to enter the SNGMA collection, and will be one of the most important and significant works by Barclay to be held in a public collection in the UK. Similarly, Alex Dordoy’s installation Sleepwalker (2014) will be the first major work by the artist in the collection. Henry Coombes’s film The Bedfords (2009) and Torsten Lauschmann’s Growing Zeros (Digital Clock) (2010) are the first works by these artists in the SNGMA collection. Two print portfolios by David Shrigley, which were shown in the UK for the first time in GENERATION, will be the first woodcuts by the artist to be acquired by a UK public collection.

The acquisitions build on the success of the nation-wide GENERATION programme, showcasing some of the best and most significant artists to have emerged from Scotland over the last 25 years, and have been made possible thanks to the generosity of several key supporters. Among these are Outset Scotland, who have kindly gifted Torsten Lauschmann’s Growing Zeros (Digital Clock), and Walter Scott & Partners Limited who have made possible the acquisition of Alex Dordoy’s Sleepwalker.

Simon Groom, director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said: “We are delighted that we have been able to acquire some of the great works that were highlights of GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland. This was the largest exhibition that NGS has ever staged, and has been enormously popular with audiences across the whole of Scotland. To secure works of this quality for the national collection is of huge importance in terms of the legacy of GENERATION, and in the ambition to continue to capture the imagination and interest of as wide a public as possible, and to inspire generations to come. We are extremely grateful to those partners who have helped us in our commitment to developing a world-class collection of contemporary Scottish art.”

Kirstie Skinner, director of Outset Scotland, said: “Outset Scotland is delighted to present Digital Clock (Growing Zeroes) by Torsten Lauschmann to the National Galleries of Scotland. Outset Scotland is committed to supporting Scotland’s public collections by making gifts of significant works of contemporary art. This is a mesmeric work, which invites repeated encounters, and it will undoubtedly become a vital part of the national collection. Outset Scotland is proud to be instrumental in ensuring that the GENERATION project will continue to resonate, and find new audiences in the future.”

About the works

Claire Barclay creates prints and sculptures, and typically produces works in response to a specific space. Trappings was commissioned for GENERATION by the SNGMA, and made especially for the room in which it was shown, in the Gallery’s Modern One building. The work comprises three wooden structures, which act as a frame for objects and materials that have been manipulated in different ways: wool pulled taught to create tension; leather straps hanging loosely; and bulbous ceramic and brass objects placed alongside printed fabric. Trappings derives from Barclay’s interest in the physical and psychological properties of materials, and the ways in which we experience the objects and matter that surround us.

Henry Coombes’s work includes painting, collage, drawing and sculpture, but he is also known for his short films – character portraits for which he creates intricate sets that allow him to explore historical themes. The Bedfords is a brooding film which reimagines the relationship between the celebrated Victorian painter Edwin Landseer (1802–73) and the Duke and Duchess of Bedford who was a great patroness of the arts. Landseer, known for his landscapes and animal portraits, had a long-standing love affair with the Scottish Highlands. It is in this landscape that Coombes has set a romantic encounter between Landseer and the Duchess of Bedford – a tryst which leads to his subsequent psychological breakdown.

Alex Dordoy’s Sleepwalker, which comprises three acrylic paintings and a number of painted sculptural objects made from oyster shells, was also commissioned for GENERATION by the SNGMA. The paintings depict a catamaran at different times of the day – night-time, dusk and dawn – and, as the viewer passes along the corridor in which they are hung, the changing lighting effects in each canvas acts as a reminder of the passage of time. Dordoy sourced the image of the boat from the internet before manipulating it using Photoshop and then meticulously rendering it as a large-scale painting.

Torsten Lauschmann’s Growing Zeros (Digital Clock) is both a 24-hour-long film and a functioning clock. In this signature work by the artist a series of wooden blocks, which mimic the seven-segment displays widely used in digital clocks and calculators, are animated by the artist’s hands, furiously moving the seconds, minutes and hours in order to keep up with the progression of time. Exhibited within the foyer of Modern One for the duration of the GENERATION exhibition, Growing Zeros has proved to be a huge hit with audiences.

As with many of his works, the subject matter in David Shrigley’s two portfolios of woodcuts is diverse. Darkly humorous images that point to profound questions of life and death are balanced by prints that present absurd problems and scenarios. Shrigley’s work is popular with a wide audience thanks to his sharp observations and ability to highlight the absurdity of our everyday fears and aspirations.

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Notes to Editor:

GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art is at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) until 25 January 2015. Further information about GENERATION exhibitions is available at generationartscotland.org.

About the artists:

Claire Barclay (b.1965)Barclay was born in Paisley and lives and works in Glasgow. She studied Environmental Art and a Master in Fine Art at The Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 1993.

Henry Coombes (b.1977)Born in London, Coombes studied at the London International Film School and Central Saint Martins before completing a degree at the Glasgow School of Art in 2002. He has continued to live and work in Glasgow since then.

Alex Dordoy (b.1985)Born in Newcastle, Dordoy studied on the painting and printmaking course at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 2007. He moved to Amsterdam in 2009 to undertake a two‑year residency at the independent artists’ institute, De Ateliers. He currently lives and works in London but retains close links with Scotland.

Torsten Lauschmann (b.1970)Lauschmann was born in Bad Soden, Germany and studied Fine Art Photography at The Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 1997. He gained his MA in Media Art from ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2001. In 2010 he received the inaugural Margaret Tait Award at the Glasgow Film Festival, and in 2013 Lauschmann was awarded a Paul Hamlyn Foundation artist’s award. He lives and works in Glasgow.

David Shrigley (b.1968)Shrigley was born in Macclesfield and graduated from the Environmental Art course at the Glasgow School of Art in 1991. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013. Shrigley lives and works in Glasgow.

About Outset Scotland:Outset Scotland is a philanthropic organisation dedicated to supporting new art by bringing private funding from its patrons, partners and trustees to public museums and art projects. It augments Scotland's public collections of contemporary art with gifted artworks and enables selected artists' commissions, exhibitions, residencies and education programmes. Outset Scotland was launched in March 2013, joining Outset Contemporary Art Fund's international network of chapters in England, Germany, India, Israel, the Netherlands, Greece, and the United States.

12 January 2015Rediscovered Shinty Painting Exhibited for the First Time in Fifty Years in Edinburgh

REDISCOVERED SHINTY PAINTING EXHIBITED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FIFTY YEARS AT THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

The painting A Highland Landscape with a Game of Shinty is the most famous depiction of the world-celebrated Scottish sport and one of the treasures of the game. Last seen in 1962, the painting disappeared from public view for over fifty years, although it has frequently been used in books and articles to highlight the provenance of the game. After a three-year search triggered by the Playing for Scotland exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the picture was eventually uncovered in a private collection belonging to a descendent of the last-known owner. A Highland Landscape with a Game of Shinty, attributed to the artists Daniel Cunliffe and A.Smith of Mauchline, is now on long-term loan to the Galleries and will join the many other works in Playing for Scotland, which explores the rich history of Scottish sporting traditions.

To celebrate the painting going on public display for the first time in half a century, shinty’s greatest ever goal-scorer Ronald Ross, MBE and the sport’s noted BBC commentator and historian Dr Hugh Dan MacLennan will be at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for a press call, with the premier prize in shinty: the Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup.

The only man to have scored more than 1000 goals in the sport, Ross has earned the eponym ‘Ronaldo of the Glens’, after the Brazilian footballer. He recently announced his retirement from active play for Kingussie Camanachd, officially the world’s most successful sporting team of all time, according to the Guinness Book of Records. Ross recently crowned a stellar career with a man-of-the-match performance as led Kingussie lifted the Camanachd Cup in 2014 for the twenty-third time.

The game depicted in the painting quite possibly took place on the Cluny estate near Newtonmore. Sticks (camans) are raised in frenzied action; the presence of pipers, dancers and refreshments implies this match is a festival game, perhaps enjoyed at New Year. The Badenoch and Strathspey Shinty Heritage Project believe the scene almost certainly depicts one of the famous shinty ball-plays organised by Cluny Macpherson, Chief of Clan Chattan. The setting and painting are probably the source of many depictions of shinty which followed from the mid-nineteenth century.

Shinty has been described as the oldest-known Celtic sport. The Camanachd Association (CA) was founded in 1893 to lead the development of the game by ensuring there was one set of rules and a framework for organising competitions nationally. Currently based in Inverness, the CA remains the governing body for shinty across the world.

Jim Barr, President of the Camanachd Association said: “The Camanachd Association is delighted that the iconic painting A Highland Landscape with a Game of Shinty has been located, and will be on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. We would like to thank the owner of the painting and the National Galleries of Scotland for displaying one of Scotland’s most iconic and most important sporting paintings. The scene very much embodies the spirit of the game, which is still played in some of the most attractive settings in the world”.

Commenting on this new long-term loan, Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said: “After a three-year search, I’m delighted that A Highland Landscape with a Game of Shinty is now on long-term loan to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and will be on display in Playing for Scotland. Our visitors can enjoy it amid many iconic artworks, brought together for the first time, which depict the nation’s sports”.

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Notes to Editors

Playing for Scotland: the Making of Modern Sport is on show at the Gallery until Spring 2016.

A selection of the iconic sporting artworks on display in Playing for Scotland: the Making of Modern Sport:

Sir Henry Raeburn, Dr Nathaniel Spens of Craigsanquhar painted in 1793. On loan from the Queen's Body Guard for Scotland (Royal Company of Archers)

Alexander Carse, The Doonies versus the Croonies on New Year’s Day by Alexander Carse painted around 1810. On loan from a private collection

Charles Lees, The Golfers: A Grand Match played over the Links of St Andrews on the Day of the Annual Meeting of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club painted in 1847. Bought with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 2002

Charles Lees, The Grand Match of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club at Linlithgow 1848 painted in 1853. On loan from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club

William Reed, Leith Races painted about 1859. On loan from the City Art Centre: City of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries

The reputation of Joseph Mallord William Turner as Britain’s most celebrated artist has enjoyed a huge boost in the last few months, with the success of the recent movie Mr Turner,directed by Mike Leighand a blockbuster exhibition of the artist’s late works at Tate Britain in London. But for Turner fans, the annual exhibition of 38 superb watercolours has been a much-loved tradition at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh for more than a century.

2015 will begin at the Gallery, as it does every year, with the opening of Turner in January,an exhibition of the outstandingcollection of Turner watercolours bequeathed in 1900 by Sir Henry Vaughan.

Vaughan was a London art collector with a passion for Turner, who put together a group of works that encapsulates the artist’s entire career, choosing each with a connoisseur’s eye for quality. He stipulated that these delicate works should be ‘exhibited to the public all at one time, free of charge, during the month of January’, to limit their exposure to strong daylight. The display runs throughout the month and brings a welcome injection of light and colour during the darkest month of the year.

Sanjay Singh, Trusts Manager at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “We are delighted that our players are continuing to support National Galleries of Scotland – and especially the Turner in January exhibition, which has not only become a firm favourite with a huge number of long-standing visitors to the Galleries, but also grabs the attention of so many new visitors each and every year. By supporting fantastic organisations like the Galleries players are ensuring that works of renowned artists, such as Turner, remain accessible to all.”

Turner was born in London in 1775, the son of a barber and wig-maker, and proved himself as an accomplished draughtsman at an early age. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1790, and went on to become perhaps the most prolific and innovative of all British artists. From the 1790s onwards he undertook sketching tours in England, Wales and Scotland, gathering material for watercolours and oil paintings, and discovering the attractions of awe-inspiring mountainous landscapes, which became a major pre-occupation in his work. He made his first journey to Europe in 1802, and from 1817, after the end of the Napoleonic wars, made annual visits across the Channel for much of the rest of his life.

Turner exploited every possibility of the watercolour medium to create stunning land- and seascapes. The exquisite works in the Vaughan bequest range from early wash drawings of the 1790s, to the colourful, atmospheric and wonderfully expressive late works executed on visits to the Swiss Alps during the 1830s and 1840s. Other highlights include a series of spectacular views of Venice made during Turner’s third and final stay in the city in 1840 which demonstrate the artist’s consummate mastery of atmospheric lighting effects.

The artist’s life-long fascination with the drama of nature is also evident in works such as Loch Coruisk, Skye and his stormy treatment of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, a marvellous feat of engineering designed by Robert Stevenson and built on a submerged reef off the Angus coast, south-east of Arbroath, between 1807 and 1811.

Contrasting with these depictions of savage elemental forces, this year the exhibition will also feature a very fine watercolour on loan to the Gallery from a private collection. Virginia Water isone of a pair of views of the royal pleasure grounds and grand artificial lake in Windsor Great Park executed by Turner for King George IV in about 1829, although not in the end acquired for the Royal Collection. It depicts the King’s magnificent, opulent Royal barge on the lake, with the recently built Chinese Fishing Temple, designed by the architect Jeffry Wyatville, shown in the background.

Also on display will be Turner’s spectacular 1820 view of Rome, Rome from Monte Mario, which was accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the Gallery in 2011.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About People’s Postcode Lottery

People’s Postcode Lottery is a charity lottery. Players play with their postcodes to win cash prizes while raising money for charities and good causes local to them.

People’s Postcode Lottery is an External Lottery Manager and manages multiple society lotteries promoted by different causes supporting a range of good causes. For details on which society lottery is running each week, visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/society

THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY UNVEILS A SPECTACULAR NEW PORTRAIT OF THE OUTSTANDING ACTOR ALAN CUMMING

An impressive, unconventional and vibrant portrait of Alan Cumming, the result of a nation-wide artistic competition, is being displayed for the first time today at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

Alan Cumming OBE is an outstanding Scottish actor, who enjoys an international reputation. He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and has appeared to critical acclaim in numerous films, television programmes and plays in Scotland, London and New York, where he now lives. He has also forged a reputation as a highly successful writer, most recently with Not My Father’s Son: A Family Memoir (2014).

This portrait is the winning commission for the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of The Year 2014 competition. The artist, Christian Hook, who is from Gibraltar, studied at Middlesex University, and has lectured on the art of Illustration at the Royal College of Art. The competition lasted ten months and involved heats being held around the country in order to find new portrait painters. As the winner, in addition to securing this prestigious commission which now enters the collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Hook has received a year’s supply of art materials. He painted Alan Cumming in New York; the actor is depicted on stage, before a row of footlights, with a top hat before him, which refers to his role in Cabaret. Other details, such as his chosen tartan, allude to Cumming’s political convictions, as a supporter of Scottish independence.

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of The Year 2014 airs on Sky Arts 1 at 8pm on Tuesdays. A special episode detailing Christian Hook’s experiences of painting Alan Cumming – Portrait Artist of the Year: Painting Alan Cumming – will air on the 30th December. The presenters of the series, Joan Bakewell and Frank Skinner, along with Alan Cumming and Christian Hook, were filmed at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for the series finale.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery commented: “This extraordinary portrait celebrates the art of performance. It’s a remarkable tribute to a widely admired actor and an impressive work of painterly drama, which displays the skills of a talented artist, whose work will now become more widely recognised.”

A remarkable photographic project which documents five years in the lives of the inhabitants of Ponte City, an iconic Johannesburg landmark and the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa, will have its only UK showing at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this winter. Ponte City will feature the work of South African photographer Mikhael Subotzky and British artist Patrick Waterhouse, who collaborated to document the building in Johannesburg, South Africa from 2007 to 2012, and who have been shortlisted this week for the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2015.

Rising 54 storeys high, Ponte City has dominated the Johannesburg skyline since 1975. It originally offered luxurious living to the wealthy white elite, but with the end of apartheid in the 1990s the building became a refuge for black newcomers from the townships and rural areas, and then immigrants from elsewhere in Africa. Ponte City entered into a period of decline; by the turn of the century it had come to symbolise urban decay and was perceived as the epicentre of crime, prostitution and drug dealing in Johannesburg. There were even plans to turn the building into a high-rise prison, until promoters bought Ponte City in 2007 and started a large scale refurbishment project for which they evicted half of the residents and gutted the empty apartments. It was during this time that Subotzky and Waterhouse began working at Ponte City, with the aim of putting together a visual “before and after” of the building. The collapse of the real estate market in 2008 put a brutal end to the renovation plans however, and the building was left in a semi-destructed state with tenants, those who had not yet been evicted or were simply squatting, still occupying flats in the block.

Subotzky and Waterhouse continued their project to record the rise and fall of what had served as a symbol of prosperity; they interviewed the remaining tenants and recorded the half-occupied building through a series of photographs, capturing the stark contrast between the original plans and the now half-derelict structure. Striking photographs show the cylindrical building’s central atrium, originally intended to allow light to enter its 500 flats from both sides, now turned into a rubbish dump by the contractors. Debris from the short-lived renovation work reaches the fifth storey and fills the space where architects had planned to build an indoor ski slope, blocking access to the bottom floors that originally offered self-sufficient living with services such as a chemist, a shopping centre and an art gallery.

Over the next five years Subotzky and Waterhouse returned repeatedly to document Ponte City. They photographed every door in the multi-level structure, the view from every window and the tenants of the half-occupied block. When they knocked on doors to ask permission to do this work, people often invited them into the flats where they were watching television, leading the artists to photograph the television screens. Through their typologies of doors, windows, and TVs, the artists created new structures of narrative and representation for this landmark building. They also recorded the intimate lives of the many tenants through a series of remarkable portraits: a woman photographed in a lift, which often served as a make-shift studio, or a young girl on tiptoes in her kitchen all show moments from everyday life at Ponte. The photographic series will be displayed in an immersive installation of prints, many of which will be unglazed and pinned to the wall, arranged in sections that will explore the architecture of the building, the inhabitants and the personal stories of recent immigrants. The photographs will be complemented by archival documents, such as newspaper clippings and architectural sketches, which will be shown alongside items left behind by the evicted tenants. From haircombs and mixtapes to personal mail and family snapshots these objects will offer another dimension to this compelling documentary project.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, commented: “This remarkable exhibition features images of great drama and poignancy which depict a single, monumental building and its inhabitants in order to ingeniously document recent events in South Africa. It illustrates our ambition to showcase the finest and most challenging of international photography in Edinburgh.”

The exhibition is accompanied by the Steidl publication, Ponte City, which is nominated for a Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation Photobook Award 2014.

The exhibition was co-produced by LE BAL, in Paris and Foto Museum, in Antwerpen.

Ponte City: Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse is part of IPS (Institute for Photography in Scotland) Season of Photography: a series of lively exhibitions and events taking place across Scotland from April to September 2015.

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Notes to editors:

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland's press office on 0131 624 6314 / 6325 / 6247 or at pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

Mikhael Subotzky (b.1981) graduated with distinction from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. He is an associate of Magnum Photographs and his work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the South African National Gallery, Cape Town and Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Previous monographs include Beaufort West (Chris Boot) and Retinal Shift (Steidl).

Patrick Waterhouse (b. 1981) graduated with a BA from the Camberwell College of Art in 2003. He works in different media including drawings, prints, photographs, and artist’s books and has published a fully illustrated version of Dante’s Inferno. He is also Editor-in-chief of Colors, a mono-thematic magazine.

The enormously popular BP Portrait Award will return to Edinburgh this winter, opening at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on 29 November. Organised by the National Portrait Gallery in London, the award is one of the most prestigious international portrait competitions in the world, which this year attracted a record-breaking 2,377 entries, submitted by artists from 71 countries. The annual exhibition, which was established in 1979 and is celebrating 25 years of sponsorship by BP, brings together 55 of the most outstanding entries, including the work of prize-winners Thomas Ganter, Richard Twose, David Jon Kassan, Ignacio Estudillo Pérez and Edward Sutcliffe.

Ganter, a 40-year-old artist from Frankfurt was awarded the first prize of £30,000 plus a commission for the National Portrait Gallery, London, for Man with a Plaid Blanket, a striking portrait of a homeless man, Karel, whom he encountered by chance outside Frankfurt’s Städel Museum. The artist was inspired to paint Karel when he was struck by his similarity to many of the portraits that he had seen in the museum. Ganter emphasises the dignity of his sitter, as well drawing attention to the disparity between rich and poor, by portraying Karel in a manner which, in the past, has been reserved for noblemen and saints.

The second prize of £10,000 went to Bath-based teacher and artist Richard Twose, 51, for Jean Woods, a portrait of a 76-year-old woman who was one of the subjects of a recent Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary Fabulous Fashionistas.

The third prize of £8,000 was awarded to Brooklyn-based artist David Jon Kassan, 37, for Letter to my Mom, a touching portrait of the artist’s mother. A reluctant subject, she was persuaded to pose by the promised gift of a painting of her grandchild and by the moving sentiments, expressed in Hebrew, which Kassan inscribed on the canvas.

Another artist’s depiction of his mother won him the £7,000 BP Young Artist Award, which is open to entrants aged between 18 and 30. Mamá (Juana Pérez), an impressive portrait which took two-and-a-half years to complete, was submitted by 28-year-old Ignacio Estudillo Pérez from Malaga.

Speaking of the exhibition, Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said: “The BP Portrait Award is rightly seen as a key moment in the arts calendar. What is remarkable is that it continues to surprise, delight and engage us, demonstrating the extraordinary vitality and variety of portrait painting globally. This year’s entries and winners are especially strong and inspiring, and I’m sure their work will give enormous pleasure to our many visitors.”

Trevor Garlick, Regional President, BP North Sea, added: “BP is a major supporter of the arts and we’re delighted to once again be bringing the BP Portrait Award to Edinburgh. The BP Portrait Award is a fantastic competition which attracts entries from around the world. This free exhibition showcases the 55 shortlisted entries and the wide variety means there is sure to be something for everyone.”

A number of Scottish artists are among those selected for this year’s exhibition. Mark Mulholland studied sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art and is now an art teacher in Edinburgh. His portrait of John Byrne depicts the celebrated artist, playwright and author (who this summer had a hugely popular exhibition of his own portraits at the SNPG) playing one of his treasured guitars.

Martin Stevenson, an award-winning artist who trained at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee and whose work has been seen in numerous group exhibitions across Scotland over the last 30 years, submitted a remarkable portrait of a colleague, Declan and his Panther Tattoo.

The work of Benjamin Sullivan, who studied at Edinburgh College of Art, has been included regularly in the BP Portrait Award exhibition over the last 13 years. This year the artist submitted a portrait of his wife, Virginia Sullivan, the first painting he has made of her since their marriage in autumn 2013.

Gareth Reid, who studied at Glasgow School of Art and Florence Academy of Art, is another regular exhibitor in the BP Portrait Award exhibition and won the BP Travel Award in 2008. Northern Bather, a portrait of his daughter, was inspired by the work of the Early Renaissance painter Piero Della Francesca.

The BP Travel Award is awarded each year to enable artists to work in a different environment on a project related to portraiture, and is open to applications from any of the artists included in the BP Portrait Award exhibition.

This year the £6,000 prize went to Edward Sutcliffe for his proposal to document the Compton Cricket Club in Los Angeles, which was formed to encourage and empower young people in one of the city’s toughest areas. The resulting work will be displayed in next year’s BP Portrait Award exhibition.

Sophie Ploeg, a Bristol-based artist who is originally from the Netherlands, won the 2013 BP Travel Award with her proposal to explore how fashion and lace was represented in 17th century art, as well as in modern applications. The fascinating results of her visits to modern lace makers and artists, antique lace collections, 17th-century art collections and famous lace-making centres, such as Bruges in Belgium and Honiton in Devon, can be seen in this year’s exhibition.

For further information please contact the Press Office at the National Galleries of Scotland on 0131 624 6325/6314/6247 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

Publication: A fully-illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition and features an introductory essay by Julia Donaldson. The catalogue includes over 55 colour illustrations and is priced £9.99 (paperback).

BP Portrait Award: Next Generation is an exciting project opening up free opportunities for 14-19 year-olds to creatively engage with painted portraiture through the BP Portrait Award. For the fifth year, young people will be able to connect with past BP Portrait Award-winning artists, meet other young people interested in portraiture and create their own portraits through a series of programmes including Taster Sessions and a two-day Winter School.

BP support for UK Arts & Culture: In the UK, BP is a major supporter of the arts with a programme that spans over 35 years. In 2011 BP announced its investment of almost £10 million in extending its long term partnerships with the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Opera House, and Tate Britain over the next five years. Taken together, these agreements represent one of the most significant long-term corporate investments in UK arts and culture www.bp.com

19 November 2014First major retrospective for neglected giants of twentieth-century Scottish art

A major new exhibition which opens at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art this week is set to explore the remarkable work of Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun. Two of Scotland’s finest twentieth-century artists, their careers rose meteorically in the 1940s when they took the London art-world by storm, but were tragically cut short by an equally dramatic decline in their fortunes, and a subsequent spiral into alcoholism, which ended with their early deaths in the 1960s.

Colquhoun and MacBryde met in 1933 at the Glasgow School of Art, where they were the stars of their generation, marked out from their contemporaries both by their prodigious talent, and the intensity and self-sufficiency of their relationship; they become lovers and worked in close partnership for the rest of their lives. The Two Roberts will be the first major retrospective exhibition devoted to their work, and marks their centenary year.

Both artists came from working-class Ayrshire backgrounds; MacBryde was born in Maybole in December 1913 and Colquhoun in Kilmarnock in December 1914. They moved to London in 1941, where they quickly became part of the celebrated Soho set that included artists such as Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, and by the mid-1940s, after a string of successful exhibitions, they had become two of the most famous artists working in Britain.

At the beginning of the 1950s however, after a series of setbacks, their success began to tail off, and with sales plummeting and their popular­ity on the wane, they were caught in a downward spiral. By the end of the decade Colquhoun and MacBryde, whose austere and uneasy paintings so perfectly encapsulate the mood of post-war years, were begging friends for money and sleeping on sofas. Colquhoun died in 1962 at the age of forty-seven, and MacBryde died four years later, aged fifty-three.

This exhibition, which includes over 60 paintings, 70 drawings and monotypes, and a vast array of photographs and archival material, will chart the career of both artists from their days at Glasgow School of Art to the final series of prints which Colquhoun was working on when he collapsed and died, re-establishing them as major forces in post-war British art.

For more detailed information on the works in the exhibition, please follow this link: http://bit.ly/1uEGEkp

15 November 2014Fashion and art come together in Edinburgh to explore changing nature of body image

The results of a unique collaboration between fashion designers, artists, curators and art historians, established to investigate and challenge contemporary notions of beauty, will be revealed in a fascinating new display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this week.

Beauty by Design: Fashioning the Renaissance willbring together a new body of work by UK designers and stylists, which has been informed by their response to Renaissance paintings in the National Galleries’ collections, and which reconsiders the ‘thin ideal’ so dominant in contemporary media and fashion. These new works will be displayed alongside some of the paintings which inspired them, such as the portrait of Margaret Graham, Lady Napier, 1626, by Adam de Colone and Paris Bordon’s Venetian Women at their Toilet,1545.

Beauty by Design, whichwas launched as a collaborative investigation into the nature of body image by Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh in 2012, has brought together fashion industry specialists and academics from across the UK. The display will showcase a dozen new works by fashion designer Mal Burkinshaw; milliner Sally-Ann Provan; accessories designer Anne Chaisty; stylist and writer Philip Clarke; freelance knitwear designer Claire Ferguson; make-up and hair expert Sharon D. Lloyd; and artist Paul Hodgson.

Silhouettes en Dentelle, Burkinshaw’s series of seven lace jackets, are the designer’s response to the body shapes and garments that can be seen in portraits, such as those of Mary, Queen of Scots; King James VI and I as a boy; and Lady Agnes Douglas, in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s Renaissanceto Reformation display. Burkinshaw’s jackets do not conform to specific UK size measurements, and are also non-gender specific, creating a dialogue between past and present notions of ‘normalised’ body shapes. The series stemmed from a close collaboration with renowned French lace producers Sophie Hallette, whose work also features in several other designs on display in the exhibition.

The striking Memento Flori (Memento of Flowers), by Sally-Ann Provan, is a large headpiece based on the shape of the ruff, a fashionable and expensive accessory worn in the Renaissance by wealthy men and women. Provan focused on visual symbolism within the portraits in Reformation to Revolution, for instance carnations, butterflies and roses, which were worked into patterns based on Sophie Hallette lace designs, then laser-cut and laser-engraved into transparent Perspex, intrinsically to link the past to the present.

Other works on show include Double Exposure, a dress by knitwear designer Claire Ferguson. It was inspired by the portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots and Lady Arabella Stuart, and combined a lace dress and a knitted outerwear into one large dress to invite the visitors to question their own notion of body shape and size.

Triptych (After Paris Bordon’s ‘Venetian Women at their Toilet’) is a large photographic triptych based on Bordon’s painting from the Scottish National Gallery. This 4m wide work raises questions about fashion media expectations, gender codes, beauty and morality.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, commented: “This terrific project illustrates how historic portraiture can be a profound source of inspiration to contemporary practitioners in the world of fashion. It is also especially pleasing as a rich collaborative endeavour, which has brought together designers, art historians and curators. Our hope is that many visitors will enjoy plotting the connections between the Gallery’s collection and these wonderfully imaginative responses to it.”

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Notes to Editors:

Beauty by Design: Fashioning the Renaissance is a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, and New Media Scotland. It has been realised with support from the house of Sophie Hallette and All Walks Beyond the Catwalk. It also involves participation of designers and artists from The Arts University College, Bournemouth, Southampton Solent University and Middlesex University. Further information about the project can be found at www.beautybydesign.org.uk.

The exhibition will feature a free interpretation leaflet written by Dr Jill Burke, who is a Senior Lecturer in Italian Renaissance Art at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. Currently completing a book on nakedness and the artistic nude in renaissance Italy, she has published widely on identity, meaning and the body in the Renaissance.

New Media Scotland is the national development agency fostering artist and audience engagement with all forms of new media practice. Further information about New Media Scotland can be found at www.mediascot.org.

Several works in this exhibition involve lace supplied by the house of Sophie Hallette. Based in Caudry in northern France, the house of Sophie Hallette has been producing tulle and lace of the finest quality since 1887. Their lace was used for the wedding dresses of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Amal Alamuddin, who recently married George Clooney. It is regularly chosen by the fashion houses of Vuitton, Dior, Chloe and Versace, amongst others. Sophie Hallette lace is still woven on traditional looms, which are over a hundred years old. The house of Sophie Hallette operates a ‘lace challenge’, encouraging students on a select number of fashion courses to innovate, using their products. This is the third year in which students at Edinburgh College of Art have been involved in this challenge and the collaboration has produced striking results.

All Walks Beyond the Catwalk is an initiative founded by Caryn Franklin, Debra Bourne and Erin O’Connor working with influential catwalk designers, top industry creatives, and fashion students and their colleges to challenge the fashion industry’s dependence on unachievable and limited body and beauty ideals.

About the artists:

Mal Burkinshaw is a fashion designer as well as Senior Lecturer and Programme Director of Fashion at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. Mal created the ECA and All Walks Beyond the Catwalk Diversity Network in 2011.

Anne Chaisty is an accessories designer as well as a Principal Lecturer and Research & Knowledge Transfer Co-ordinator for Fashion and Textiles at the Arts University Bournemouth.

Philip Clarke is a stylist and writer, who works as Programme Leader of Fashion Communication and Styling at Middlesex University.

Claire Ferguson is a freelance knitwear designer who has worked with Calvin Klein, Pringle and Isa Arfen. She also works as a Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh College of Art.

Paul Hodgson is an artist whose work incorporates painting, digital print and photography. He has exhibited globally and in 2010 was a Director's Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

Sharon D. Lloyd is Course Leader of Make-Up and Hair Design at Southampton Solent University. Her specialism is the theoretical application and debate surrounding make-up and hair design.

Sally-Ann Provan is an Edinburgh-based milliner who runs the Edinburgh Hat Studio. She has exhibited worldwide and worked for clients including Scottish Opera, the BBC and Scottish Ballet, and is also a Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh College of Art.

16 October 2014The National Galleries of Scotland Achieves ‘Investing In Volunteers’ Award

THE NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND ACHIEVES ‘INVESTING IN VOLUNTEERS’ AWARD

The National Galleries of Scotland has become the first national arts organisation to achieve the Investing in Volunteers Award in the UK. This Award recognises the work organisations do with volunteers based on a range of best practice standards, and the National Galleries of Scotland was found to excel in all areas.

The National Galleries of Scotland has involved volunteers in their work for many years in areas such as Education, Curatorial, and Visitor Services; some of these volunteers have been donating their time, skills, and wisdom for more than twenty years. With the introduction of a dedicated Volunteer Programme Coordinator in 2012 the National Galleries of Scotland has expanded volunteering opportunities across the galleries and aims to improve the volunteering experience for all.

As part of the Volunteer Programme development, the National Galleries of Scotland has built relationships with charity partners to offer their service users dedicated work-based volunteer placements. Some of these include Access to Industry, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Women Onto Work, and Project Scotland. Each volunteer placement is assigned a staff mentor who helps guide them through the professional work experience. In addition to these partnerships, the National Galleries of Scotland works with secondary and higher education students from a variety of schools and universities to provide first-hand experience of working in an art gallery.

Sam Lagneau, Head of Development for the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “By going through the process to achieve Investing in Volunteers the National Galleries of Scotland has shown its commitment to working with volunteers in a way that is mutually beneficial. Whether individuals are volunteering to develop skills and build experience to help with future employment, or explore their interest in art, volunteering has been recognised as a partnership worth investing in.”

Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, added: “We are delighted to have achieved this Award which helps show the level of involvement volunteers have in our organisation. Our many volunteers provide a vast resource of skills and experience across all our areas of activity and we are immensely grateful for their invaluable contribution.”

• Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for good practice in involving volunteers and has been achieved by 765 organisations across the UK.

• The standard is owned by the UK Volunteering Forum and managed by Volunteer Scotland, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in England, Volunteer Now in Northern Ireland and Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA).

• Investing in Volunteers is based on four areas of volunteer management: planning for volunteer involvement, recruiting volunteers, selecting and matching volunteers, and supporting and retaining volunteers.

8 October 2014Dazzling work by little-known master of the eighteenth century to be revealed in major exhibition

The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to announce a major exhibition in the summer of 2015 celebrating one of the greatest yet little-known artists of the eighteenth century. The work of Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789) has rarely been exhibited and this is the first time it will be comprehensively celebrated in Britain. Liotard enjoyed a long career and his finest portraits display an astonishing hyper-realism achieved through a combination of incredible, intense observation and remarkable technical skills.

Liotard was one of the most sophisticated artists of eighteenth-century Europe; a brilliant, witty portraitist, he excelled at the delicate art of pastel, but also drew, painted in oil, created enamels and was a refined miniaturist and printmaker. According to his contemporary Horace Walpole ‘Truth prevailed in all his works.’ In some respects he also displayed striking modernity as a highly accomplished self-publicist, formulating a powerful ‘eastern’ image of himself following his period in Constantinople, by wearing exotic clothes and growing a long beard, which became as much a focus of curiosity as his portraits. His activity was prodigious: Liotard wrote a treatise on painting, was a collector, a dealer, a traveller and an artistic innovator. In the age of Mozart and Casanova, he was a key international figure, whose achievement deserves to be better known.

Born in Geneva, he travelled extensively, working in Amsterdam, The Hague, Venice, Rome and Naples. He spent four years in Constantinople depicting foreign residents in the city and developed a fascination with near-eastern fashions and customs. His career also took him to the courts of Vienna, Paris and London, where he portrayed the families of Empress Maria Theresa, King Louis XV and Augusta, Princess of Wales, creating images of great candour and charm.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and one of the exhibition's curators, commented: “This exhibition will be a revelation to many visitors who are unfamiliar with Liotard’s dazzling achievement. He was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable and idiosyncratic artists of the eighteenth century, and his work and career are fascinating, as they touch on themes such a travel, orientalism, court art, fashion and technical experimentation.’

Liotard depicted a number of important British patrons, in addition to members of the Royal family, such as the actor David Garrick, and some of his key works remain in U.K. public and private collections. Highlights of the exhibition will also include a selection of his startling self-portraits and brilliant experiments with genre and still life subjects that date from late in his career.

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Notes to Editors:

The exhibition will be shown at the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, from 6 June to 13 September 2015 and is a collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, where it will be seen from 11 October 2015 to 16 January 2016.

The exhibition has been curated by MaryAnne Stevens (on behalf of the Royal Academy), Dr William Hauptman (independent scholar) and Christopher Baker (on behalf of the National Galleries of Scotland). It is to be accompanied by a major scholarly catalogue published by the Royal Academy of Arts and a rich programme of lectures and events both in Edinburgh and London.

In Edinburgh the exhibition is generously supported by anonymous donors and the Friends of the National Galleries of Scotland.

The Patron of the exhibition is His Excellency the Swiss Ambassador, Dominik Furgler

29 September 2014Captivating prints by great Scottish artist William Strang to go on display

A captivating and diverse selection of prints and drawings by the great Scottish artist William Strang will feature in a new display at the Scottish National Gallery this autumn. Strang, who was born in Dumbarton in 1859, was a highly skilled and imaginative printmaker and painter, who produced one of the most innovative and varied bodies of original etched work by any Scottish artist of the period. Fair Faces, Dark Places will include a selection of over 30 key works from the Gallery’s extensive collection of works on paper by Strang, spanning the breadth of his career.

Strang, with fellow Scots David Young Cameron, Muirhead Bone and James McBey (collectively known as ‘The Big Four’), was instrumental in stimulating an international revival of original printmaking during the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century. After serving a brief apprenticeship with a Clydeside shipbuilding firm, he moved to London in 1876, where he enrolled at the newly opened Slade School of Art. There he studied under the realist artist Alphonse Legros (1837–1911), whose teaching remained a powerful influence for the rest of his life. On completing his studies, Strang became Legros’s assistant in the printmaking class, after which he worked for two decades predominantly as an etcher. Though he went on to achieve recognition as a painter, printmaking remained central to Strang’s work until his death in 1921.

The works on show in Fair Faces, Dark Places will reflect Strang’s versatility as an artist, as well as his consummate technical skill. His subjects ranged from those based in reality - highlighting the stark poverty and social injustice of Victorian Britain with powerful images such as Despair (1889) - to the truly fantastical, including strange and macabre allegories such as Grotesque (1897), which was inspired by a dream and reflects the influence of Goya, European Symbolist painting and the celebrated illustrator Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898).

Strang was also an advocate for the revival of the hand-printed book and made many narrative illustrations for books, periodicals and his own Scots dialect ballads. On show will be Toomai of the Elephants (1900) a fine example of his illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s short stories, as well as examples of his etchings of subjects from Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote.

He was also a prolific portraitist who produced memorable images of leading artistic and literary figures, as well as his family and friends. Inspired by Rembrandt, he made many self-portraits, including one example on show here in which he typically depicts himself surrounded by a printing press, prints in various states, bottles of ink and other tools of his trade.

The display will also include two portraits of Strang’s most famous sitter, the poet and novelist Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), offering a fascinating comparison between a pencil study made with tremendous honesty, directly from life, and the finished, more famous (and more flattering) etched version for which it was as a preparatory study.

Undoubtedly one of the innovators of the modern style in Britain, Strang’s striking images fuse a range of influences from his teacher, Legros, to old masters such as Rembrandt, Dürer, Holbein and Goya. Throughout his career, right up until his sudden death from heart failure aged 62, he was continuously experimenting with technique and subject. According to Strang “there are no beauties but technical ones”; for him, beauty lay in fine draughtsmanship, technical skill, sincerity and authenticity.

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Notes to editors:

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland's press office on 0131 624 6314 / 6325 / 6247 or at pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

1 August 2014Remembering the Great War: Commemorative exhibition opens at Scottish National Portrait Gallery

A largely unknown painting which profoundly impressed the poet Wilfred Owen will be one of the highlights of a new exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.

Avatar, an elegiac meditation on the fallen of the War, painted by Henry Lintott in 1916, was seen by Owen while he was being treated for shell shock at the Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh in 1917. He was moved to describe the work, which depicts a deceased warrior, covered in a black shroud, being carried to heaven by four ethereal figures, as the ‘finest picture now in the Edinburgh Gallery.’ Avatar, which will be on loan from the Royal Scottish Academy has only been on show to the public a handful of times since the War, and has been specially conserved with the aid of a grant from AIM and the Pilgrim Trust Award, to feature in the exhibition.

Remembering the Great War, which opens at the Portrait Gallery on 4 August, will make a significant contribution to this year’s global commemorations. Largely drawn from works in the National Galleries of Scotland collections, the thought-provoking and poignant selection of portraits and related images will reflect the stories of a wide range of people, from famous figures to ordinary men and women, and the many different ways in which their lives were touched by the conflict.

The exhibition will feature depictions of senior statesmen, military figures, writers, poets, painters and musicians, and photographs of servicemen and women, as well as preparatory drawings for the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle. It will also include a remarkable group of etchings inspired by the war experiences of the German artist Otto Dix.

Remembering the Great War will begin with an exploration of some of the significant figures who played a part, as both proponents and opponents, in the run up to the outbreak of war. These include a striking portrait of King George V by Charles Sims and an oil study of Field Marshall Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, by John Singer Sargent. Portraits of the Scottish socialist and Labour leader James Keir Hardie, and the first Labour Prime Minister James Ramsay MacDonald, represent those who were strongly opposed to the war.

The exhibition will also address issues connected with the role of women and the war effort, touching on the social changes brought about by the conflict and the opportunities it gave to those at home. Among the women represented here are Flora Drummond, a militant figure in the Suffragette movement which on the outbreak of hostilities put on hold its demands for emancipation to support the war; and the poet and children’s author Lady Margaret Sackville who published The Pageant of War, a collection of anti-war poems in which she declared that women who supported the war were betraying their sons.

Also on display is a collection of significant figures in the Scottish artistic landscape at the start of the 20th-century. These include the music hall artist Sir Harry Lauder, described by Winston Churchill as ‘Scotland’s greatest ever ambassador’ for his contribution to the entertainment of troops, who tragically lost his only son in France; artist William McCance who was imprisoned as a conscientious objector; and Lord Reith, later the Director-General of the BBC, who fought with distinction for the 5th Scottish Rifles and was shot in the face by a German sniper, sustaining the famous scar clearly visible in his portrait by Sir Oswald Birley.

The exhibition will also reflect the contribution of Scottish people to the medical response to the war through figures such as Mary Garden, an opera singer who worked as a nurse after failing in her attempt to enlist, disguised as a man, in the French army; Dr Elsie Ingles, who helped to establish the Scottish Women's Hospital for Foreign Service Committee, and served in field hospitals in Serbia (where she was captured) and Russia; and Sir Alexander Fleming whose service in the Army Medical Corps informed his later research and subsequent discovery of Penicillin.

Images of nurses and wounded men on the wards of Springburn Hospital in Glasgow are among the fascinating selection of photographs in the exhibition, which also includes a series of prints by George P. Lewis, who was commissioned by the Women’s Work Committee for the Imperial War Museum in 1918, to document the role of Scottish women in transport and heavy industries during the war.

Contemporary photographs by Scottish photographer Peter Cattrell shift our wartime reflections into the present, with haunting black and white images of the Somme battlefield in France as it stands today, still bearing the scars of war. Cattrell has also depicted the spot where Wilfred Owen died on 4 November 1918. Born in Glasgow in 1959, Cattrell’s interest in the Somme took flight after discovering a photograph of his great uncle, William Wyatt Bagshawe, who died on the first day of the Somme in July 1916. Some 57,000 men were killed on that day alone.

Within the exhibition space, a projected display of images of unidentified servicemen and women reiterates the important point that the Great War profoundly affected society as a whole, leaving nobody untouched.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said: “Our hope is that this moving exhibition will remind our many visitors of the terrible sacrifice and enduring impact of the Great War and the special role that Scotland played.”

A major international exhibition which explores the impact of French Impressionism on American artists in the late nineteenth century will be one of the highlights of the National Galleries of Scotland’s summer exhibition programme. American Impressionism: A New Vision will bring together nearly 80 paintings by some of America’s most celebrated artists, such as James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt. It will also feature the work of a number of significant artists who are probably better known to American audiences – among them Theodore Robinson, Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, Edmund Tarbell and John Twachtman. Paintings by the major French artists Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas will demonstrate how closely the Impressionists worked with their American colleagues.

The exhibition will reflect the impact of Impressionism on both Americans working abroad in the period from 1880 to 1890, and those working at home in the following decade. It will begin with iconic paintings by Cassatt and Sargent, who cultivated friendships with French Impressionists – in particular Monet and Degas - and participated in the development and promotion of this revolutionary new way of painting.

More than any other American artist working in France Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) helped to shape Impressionism. Through her friendships with French artists Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot she participated in four Impressionist exhibitions between 1879 and 1886. Two of her finest works, Children on the Beach (1884) and Young Girl at a Window (c.1884), appeared in the eighth and final Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1886 and are included in the Edinburgh show.

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was one of several young artists from North America who worked at Giverny in Normandy in the late nineteenth century. He developed a close friendship with Monet and visited him at his house in Giverny on several occasions; he immortalised their shared work sessions in his 1885 painting Claude Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood. The work shows the French artist at work on a canvas that has been identified as Meadow with Haystacks near Giverny, one of the earliest works in his famous series of haystacks paintings.

Other artists assimilated Impressionism in a more gradual way: Theodore Robinson (1852-1896) experimented with the changing effects of light while working outdoors alongside Monet at Giverny, as seen in the luminous painting Blossoms at Giverny (1891). Frederick Childe Hassam (1859-1935) incorporated impressionist colours and subjects into his more traditional ‘Salon-style’ pictures, using bright colours to capture the effect of a bright sunny day in Grand Prix Day (le jour du grand prix), c.1888.

In America, artists turned to Impressionism slightly later. Between 1890 and 1900 painters such as Hassam, Chase, Tarbell and Twachtman adapted Impressionism by responding to the new subject matter, compositions and colours of the movement in scenes depicting their native country and creating a new vision for an American audience. Their subjects included New York parks, East Coast beaches, New England villages and, of course, the image of the American woman. Prismatic colour, broken brushwork and purple shadows became prevalent at exhibitions in New York, Philadelphia and Boston in the early 1890s. Chase, for instance, created a series of bright, urban park scenes as well as bright, outdoor pictures of women and children at leisure during summers on the coast of Long Island in the 1890s. The exhibition will include four of his paintings of East Coast scenes at Shinnecock from the 1890s.

Michael Clarke, director of the Scottish National Gallery, commented: “We know that Americans became great collectors of Impressionism, now we can see how American artists responded to Monet and his fellow Impressionists. This should be an eye-opener for European audiences and we are delighted to be hosting its only UK showing.”

This major international exhibition has been organized by the musée des impressionnismes Giverny and the Terra Foundation for American Art with the collaboration of the National Galleries of Scotland and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, with the generous support of the Terra Foundation for American Art. For its only UK showing, it will be on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two).

The exhibition is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated catalogue American Impressionism: A New Vision, 1880-1900, published on the occasion of the exhibition. The catalogue reproduces more than 80 paintings by significant American artists (160 pages, 120 colour illustrations, price £20.00).

American Impressionism is part of the Edinburgh Art Festival.

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Notes to editors:

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland's press office on 0131 624 6314 / 6325 / 6247 or at pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

Impressionism originated in France in the second half of the nineteenth century, where Claude Monet (1840-1926), Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and other Paris-based artists produced works focusing on landscapes and scenes of everyday life. They worked outdoors, rather than painting from sketches and in a studio, and in contrast to the academic emphasis on careful draughtsmanship, used visible, broken brushwork to illustrate the changing light and colours of outdoor scenes. Impressionists came to prominence in the late nineteenth century thanks to their independent group exhibitions, which were held at intervals from 1874 and 1886. The name of the movement stems from a work by Monet, entitled Impression, Sunrise, which featured in the first exhibition.

Three venues in Europe: musée des impressionnismes Giverny: L’Impressionnisme et les Américains (28 March – 29 June 2014) Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art: American Impressionism: A New Vision (19 July – 19 October 2014) Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza: Impressionismo Americano (4 November 2014 – 1 February 2015)

15 July 2014Phill Jupitus brings 'Sketch Comic' to the National Galleries of Scotland this summer

The celebrated, award-winning stand-up comic, performance poet and broadcast personality Phill Jupitus will return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer with Sketch Comic, a new show which highlights his deep love of art.

From 4 to 22 August, Phill will be let loose on the collections at the National Galleries of Scotland, sketching some of his favourite works and encouraging visitors to watch, join in, and share their own sketches. Together with fellow stand-up comic and art historian Hannah Gadsby, he will also present a free talk each Thursday during those weeks about his love of painting and the experience of sketching in the Galleries.

The National Galleries of Scotland comprises three galleries in Edinburgh and looks after a world-famous collection, ranging from the sixteenth-century to the present day. One of the artworks to be sketched will be John Singer Sargent’s Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1865-1932) of 1892, a favourite of Phill’s and one of the most popular works amongst our visitors.

Perhaps best known as a team captain on the popular BBC Two pop quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Phill Jupitus is a multi-talented artist whose repertoire includes poetry, acting, radio DJ and drawing. Phill will use his iPad and the “Paper” app, which works as a sketchbook and allows artists to capture drawings and illustrations with a stylus, to sketch one work per Gallery.

Sketch Comic will take place from 10am-12pm at the Scottish National Gallery from 4 to 8 August, followed by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from 11 to 15 August, and a final week at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art from 18 to 22 August. The lectures will take place at the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, from 6.30-7.30pm on 7, 14 and 21 August. The lectures are free and unticketed.

Hannah Gadsby is an award-winning comedian with a background in Art History. She has presented comedy art tours with the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, and written and presented art programmes for the Australian TV channel ABC.

THE ART OF GOLF: THE STORY OF SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL SPORT12 July – 26 October 2014Scottish National Gallery, The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2ELAdmission £8 (£6)0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org#ArtofGolf

The Scottish National Gallery is delighted to take part in the sporting celebrations taking place this summer in Scotland with The Art of Golf: The Story of Scotland’s National Sport. The exhibition will overlap with two important events: the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow (23 July – 3 August) and the Ryder Cup, Gleneagles (23 – 28 September), the biennial competition played between teams of professional golfers representing the United States and Europe. The Art of Golf, which opens on 12 July in Edinburgh, will explore golf as a subject of fascination for artists from the seventeenth century to the present day, with a particular emphasis on the emergence of the sport in Scotland.

The Art of Golf will bring together around 60 paintings and photographs - as well as a selection of historic golfing equipment - with works by artists such as Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634) and Paul Sandby (1731-1809) illustrating the origins of the game. Other highlights will include Sir John Lavery’s (1846-1951) beautiful 1920s paintings of the golf course at North Berwick, a coastal resort 25 miles east of Edinburgh, and colourful railway posters for popular destinations such as Gleneagles, which illustrate the boom in golfing tourism in the inter-war years. Stunning images of golf courses from Brora to the Isle of Harris by contemporary photographer Glyn Satterly and spectacular aerial shots by artist and aviator Patricia Macdonald will bring the exhibition up to present day.

The centrepiece of the show will be the greatest golfing painting in the world, Charles Lees’ famous 1847 masterpiece The Golfers. This commemorates a match played on the Old Course at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, St Andrews, by Sir David Baird and Sir Ralph Anstruther, against Major Hugh Lyon Playfair and John Campbell of Saddell. It represents a veritable ‘who’s who’ of Scottish golf at that time and was famously reproduced in a fine engraving which sold in great quantities. Lees (1800-80) made use of photography, at a time when it was in its infancy, to help him design the painting’s overall composition. The image in question, taken by photography pioneers D O Hill & Robert Adamson, will be included in the show and Lees’s preparatory drawings and oil sketches will also be displayed alongside the finished painting to offer visitors further insight into the creation of this great work. Impressions of The Golfers are now in many of the greatest golf clubhouses around the world. The painting is jointly owned by the National Galleries of Scotland and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

Golf has been played in Scotland since at least the fifteenth century. Whilst its origins are obscure, it is undoubtedly close to the Netherlandish game of ‘colf’, which was played over rough ground or on frozen waterways, and involved hitting a ball to a target stick fixed in the ground or the ice. ‘Colvers’ playing on the frozen canals are seen in Dutch seventeenth-century paintings which form the earliest part of the show. In Scotland the game is often played over ‘links’ courses, originally rough common ground where the land meets the sea. The majority of Scotland’s famous old courses, such as St Andrews or North Berwick, are links courses. In Edinburgh, the early links courses of Bruntsfield, Leith and Musselburgh are shown in works by Sandby and Raeburn.

Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, said: “This show is designed to be fun and to bring together two publics, lovers of art and lovers of golf. Where better to do this than in this world-class gallery, with its great Old master and Scottish paintings, which is situated in Scotland’s beautiful capital city of Edinburgh, and through which so many golfers pass on their way to our internationally renowned courses.”

Generous loans from a number of famous Scottish golf clubs, the British Golf Museum in St Andrews and private collectors have been secured for this exhibition.

The Art of Golf will be accompanied by a lavishly illustrated catalogue, with essays by Michael Clarke and Kenneth McConkey, Professor of Art History at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. 72 pages, colour illustrations throughout, soft cover, priced £12.95.

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8 July 2014New Acquisition of a Fine Seventeenth-Century Child Portrait for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

NEW ACQUISITION of a fine seventeenth-century child portrait for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery has acquired an extremely distinguished and sensitive seventeenth-century portrait of Robert, Lord Bruce (1626-1685), as a child. It is one of very few child portraits of this early period in the collection. The painting has been acquired for £35,000 from the Weiss Gallery in London.

He is depicted in the height of contemporary fashion, wearing a delicate pink satin doublet, trimmed with buttons and braiding, all created from precious silver thread.

Robert, Lord Bruce was from a noble Scottish family: he was born in 1626, the only child and heir of Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin. As an adult he travelled across Europe, undertaking a Grand Tour many years before such educational journeys were commonplace. On his return to Britain in 1646 he married Lady Diana Grey: they had seventeen children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. In the 1650s, during the Civil War, he was campaigning and raising money for the royalist cause. In 1660 he was one of the Commissioners who travelled to The Hague to invite the exiled King Charles II to return to Britain to reclaim the throne.

This is the first portrait by the artist Cornelius Johnson (1593-1661) to enter the Gallery’s collection. Johnson was born in London and may have trained in the Netherlands. He painted portraits of the gentry, merchants and courtiers and became renowned for his sensitive depictions of his sitters and their clothes. The lack of a work by this most prolific and successful 17th-century portraitist was a significant gap in the collections.

The artist was appointed ‘his Majesty’s … Picture drawer’ to Charles I in 1632. He fell from favour however the same year, following the arrival of the outstanding painter Anthony van Dyck at court. The portrait of Lord Bruce has been displayed beside Van Dyck’s portrait of the Stuart princesses in Gallery 1 at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery commented: “This is a very welcome addition to the Gallery’s seventeenth-century collections; a work of considerable refinement,it provides a fascinating insight into 17th-century fashion and the careers of both a significant sitter and artist.”

The extraordinary artistic talent of one of Britain’s most celebrated writers and thinkers will be revealed in an ambitious new exhibition, which will have its only UK showing at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh this summer. John Ruskin (1819-1900) was the leading art critic of his day and one of Victorian Britain’s most influential social theorists, whose writings and interests embraced a breath-taking range of subjects. Famous as the champion of Turner and the Pre-Raphaelite painters, he was also a brilliantly skilled and prolific artist, who, though he rarely exhibited his work, was driven by an intense and passionate desire to draw.

John Ruskin: Artist and Observer will be the most extensive exhibition to date devoted to Ruskin’s achievements as an artist in his own right. It has been organised in collaboration with the National Gallery of Canada, and will bring together 130 drawings and watercolours, representing Ruskin’s entire 60-year career, on loan from important private and public collections in the UK, Canada and the USA, including the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut; the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Ruskin was obsessively interested in many aspects of the world around him, and used drawing as a means of observing, recording and understanding what he saw. His fascination for architecture, natural history, geology and meteorology is reflected in works such as Study of the Marble Inlaying on the Front of the Casa Loredan, Venice (1845), Rocks and Ferns in a Wood at Crossmount, Perthshire (1847) and his beautiful studies of plants, fruit, birds, feathers and reptiles. All are rendered in meticulous detail and combine a keen sense of scientific inquiry with a delight in the textures, colours, and intricate forms of his subjects.

For Ruskin, drawing was a powerful physical compulsion - at times an uncontrolled and spontaneous response to the world. His outstanding talent allowed him to work fluently and instinctively in different media, using pen, pencil or chalk, and painting in watercolour and gouache (opaque watercolour). Certain works incorporate a rich variety of different methods and media, so that the forms become superimposed and are allowed to merge into one another. Creating drawings for his own use (rather than for exhibition or display), Ruskin developed a way of working that was distinctive, personal and highly expressive. It echoed his emotional state, which ranged from manic despondency to periods of elation and consequently the drawings offer a fascinating window into a brilliant and sometimes troubled soul.

Although he grew up in suburban London, Ruskin came from a Scottish family and his parents helped to instil in him a love of wild and elemental landscapes. Visiting Scotland frequently, he created spectacular watercolours of its dramatic scenery and geology, such as Coast Scene near Dunbar (1847), In the Pass of Killiecrankie (1857) and Study of Gneiss Rock, Glenfinlas (1853-54). Ruskin also made many visits to the Alps, where he produced elaborate drawings of the glaciers of Chamonix and careful studies of rocks, which helped him to understand the geological forces that shaped the landscape.

Ruskin was a powerful advocate for the Gothic Revival movement in architecture, so it is fitting that this exhibition will be at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery – a magnificent Gothic fantasy, which makes reference to his beloved Venice. Among the finest works in the exhibition will be watercolours and drawings which illustrate both his forensic study of, and poetic response to, the architecture and fabric of the north Italian city. Also on show will be a number of daguerrotypes – examples of a very early type of photography – taken by Ruskin and his contemporaries as an aid to revealing the hidden details of façades and stone carvings and inform some of his expansive studies of mountain scenery.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, commented on the exhibition: “Ruskin’s drawings and watercolours can be enjoyed in various ways: as intense and delightful responses to the beauty of the natural world and insights into the complex mind of one the most sophisticated of Victorian thinkers and writers. Our hope is they will be a revelation to many visitors, who will then want to discover more about Ruskin’s remarkable and multi-faceted achievement.”

Ruskin himself will be present in the exhibition through self-portraits and the magnificent portrait of him by John Everett Millais of 1854 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, above). It was painted in Scotland and is one of the finest of all nineteenth-century artist portraits; it has an intriguing history that touches on both Ruskin’s private life and development as a painter. Just as it was being created Ruskin was learning from Millais about how to observe nature in the Pre-Raphaelite manner (meticulously recording the surrounding rocks); however, at the same moment Millais was falling in love with Ruskin’s wife, Eufemia (Effie) Gray. The painting was completed in London, Ruskin’s marriage was dissolved, and Millais and Effie were later married.

Effie Gray, a new film based on Effie’s life, written by Emma Thompson and starring Dakota Fanning in the title role, is due for cinema release in October. This lavish production was shot in Scotland, London and Venice and also stars Greg Wise in the role of Ruskin and Tom Sturridge as Millais, with a supporting cast that includes Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi, Julie Walters, James Fox and Robbie Coltrane. There will be a special preview screening at the Scottish National Gallery on 15 August.

The exhibition has been guest-curated by the distinguished Ruskin scholars Christopher Newall and Conal Shields, both of whom have made major contributions to the accompanying catalogue. This richly illustrated book also includes contributions from Christopher Baker and Ian Jeffrey (376 pages, colour illustrations throughout, soft cover in matt art paper, priced £37.50).

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1 July 2014Renowned Scottish Photographer Harry Benson Unveils New Portrait of Her Majesty The Queen

Information strictly embargoed until the Press Call on Tuesday 1 July at 11:00 am at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street, Edinburgh

RENOWNED SCOTTISH PHOTOGRAPHER HARRY BENSON UNVEILS NEW PORTRAIT OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery has commissioned the renowned Scottish photographer Harry Benson CBE to create a new portrait of Her Majesty The Queen. The photograph unveiled today, Tuesday 1 July, depicts Her Majesty in the private study at Buckingham Palace where she holds her weekly audience with her prime ministers: Her Majesty wears a gold and diamond brooch featuring thistles, Scotland’s national emblem.

Born in Glasgow, Harry Benson moved early in his career to the competitive world of Fleet Street newspapers, working first for the Daily Sketch and the Daily Express. He then took photographs for LIFE Magazine and Vanity Fair. His reputation was secured 50 years ago when he created a seminal series of photographs of The Beatles on their first international tour. He has photographed every American president since Eisenhower and has created some truly iconic images, including the famous photograph of the Reagans dancing at the White House. A hugely successful retrospective of his work was held at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2006.

Mr Benson commented on the commission: “To have been asked by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to photograph Her Majesty The Queen for an official portrait is truly a highlight of my career. I first photographed Her Majesty in Scotland opening a coal mine in 1957, and thereafter visiting towns in Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and the Western Highlands, and later in London at the opening of Parliament … It was always an honour and a privilege, but the most memorable was when I had the opportunity to take an official portrait in Buckingham Palace for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. I was given the opportunity of selecting the colour and dress that The Queen would wear for the portrait. My teachers at the Eastwood School in Glasgow would be amazed!"

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, added “We are delighted with this new portrait, which is the first the Scottish National Portrait Gallery has commissioned of The Queen. It is also an especially fitting way of marking a key moment in Harry Benson’s distinguished career, as 2014 is the 50th anniversary of his great portraits of The Beatles, which established his reputation as one of the finest modern photographers. Harry Benson’s portrait of Her Majesty is a respectful and thoughtful work, which will, I am confident, prove extremely popular.”

This commission has been supported by the Friends of the National Galleries of Scotland.

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25 June 2014Landmark exhibition at National Galleries celebrates 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland

LANDMARK EXHIBITION AT NATIONAL GALLERIES CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN SCOTLAND

The National Galleries of Scotland will launch its largest exhibition to date this summer with the opening of GENERATION, the centrepiece to a landmark celebration of 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland, in which the work of more than 100 artists will be shown at over 60 venues across the country.

Organised by the Galleries in partnership with Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland, this hugely ambitious programme of exhibitions is part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, and places the spotlight on a generation of artists living and working in Scotland, whose work has created enormous excitement and attracted international acclaim over the last quarter-century.

At the centre of GENERATION will be a ground-breaking, three-part exhibition to be shown across the National Galleries’ three sites in Edinburgh. Taking in the flagship exhibition space at the Scottish National Gallery, the whole of Modern One at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Contemporary Gallery at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, GENERATION will offer an unprecedented view of the richness, diversity and range of contemporary art in Scotland.

The exhibition will include some of the most historically significant works created in Scotland in the last 25 years, as well as recreations of significant shows and major installations. It will bring together loans from public and private collections in the UK and abroad, many of which are being shown for the very first time in Scotland.

GENERATION will also reflect the continuing dynamism of art in Scotland, with the inclusion of six newly commissioned installations as well as new paintings, drawings and photographic works.

At the Scottish National Gallery, a number of important exhibitions from the period will be re-staged. These include: On Form and Fiction, an immersive environment of ink and acrylic drawings, benches and music by Steven Campbell that proved highly influential when first shown at the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow in 1990; and Turner Prize winner Martin Boyce’s Our Love is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea and the Hours, originally created at Tramway in Glasgow in 2002. Also on show will be a room of Exposed Paintings by Callum Innes, three portfolios of woodcuts by David Shrigley that have never been exhibited in the UK previously, two video projections by Rosalind Nashashibi, the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Beck’s Futures Prize in 2003, and L’Homme Double, a sculptural installation by Christine Borland, which has never been shown in Scotland. Karla Black, who represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2011, will create a new sculptural hanging piece in response to the Gallery’s imposing neo-classical Sculpture Hall.

At the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the whole of Modern One – the larger of the Gallery’s two buildings – will be given over to GENERATION. As well as room-sized installations by Ross Sinclair (Real Life Rocky Mountain, 1996), Graham Fagen (Peek-A-Jobby, 1998), and Turner Prize winner Simon Starling (Burn-Time, 2000), a diverse range of work by artists such as Charles Avery, Kate Davis, Lucy McKenzie, Victoria Morton, Jonathan Owen, Julie Roberts and Alison Watt will demonstrate the continuing vitality of painting and drawing in Scotland. Newly commissioned installations by Claire Barclay, Toby Paterson, Ciara Phillips and Alex Dordoy will express different approaches to sculpture, painting, printmaking and collage. Turner Prize winner Douglas Gordon’s celebrated 24 Hour Psycho 1993 will be among several video works on show. Other film and video works include Henry Coombes’s The Bedfords (2009), Smith/Stewart’s Breathing Space (1997), Roderick Buchanan’s Soda Stream (1997), lent by Glasgow Museums, and Torsten Lauschmann’s At the Heart of Everything A Row of Holes (2011).

At the Scottish National Portrait Gallery visitors will have the opportunity to view a recent film by Turner Prize nominee Luke Fowler, The Poor Stockinger, the Luddite Cropper and the Deluded Followers of Joanna Southcott (2012), which builds a portrait of the Marxist historian and activist E P Thompson (1924–1993), using both newly shot and found film footage.

As well as the three main sites, a new digital-based work by Sue Tompkins will lead visitors on a walk between the Scottish National Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art buildings, exploring ideas about location and place.

Speaking of GENERATION, Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said: “There is an amazing story to tell about art in Scotland over the past 25 years and we believe that we have found a very compelling way to tell it with what surely must be one of the most ambitious programmes of exhibitions ever mounted by a single country. Our own exhibition, which spans our three sites in Edinburgh is also unprecedented in scale and scope. It has been tremendously exciting to put together, and I hope it will give people a real sense of the huge impact made by a remarkable generation of artists.”

Culture Secretary, Fiona Hyslop said: “2014 is an exciting year for Scotland as we welcome the world to join us in the celebration of the second year of Homecoming, and as the host of the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup. With the eyes of the world upon us, exhibitions like GENERATION, part of the Cultural Programme for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, showcase the depth and the breadth of talent in Scotland, and give us a chance to introduce a whole new generation to the vibrancy of contemporary art.

“GENERATION promises to be an exciting opportunity to see the very best of Scottish contemporary art from the past 25 years.”

The exhibition is accompanied by two publications, the GENERATION Guide and GENERATION Reader.

In addition, a significant public programme will accompany the exhibition, including talks, lectures, film screenings, practical art courses and weekly exhibition tours. Every Thursday at the Scottish National Gallery between 5pm and 7pm, and every month at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, visitors to GENERATION can explore the exhibition through pop-up talks, experimental drawing- and writing workshops and curator-led tours. There will also be a programme of talks by exhibiting artists and our regular fortnightly lunchtime lecture series will include contextual talks by experts and scholars.

From 21 July to 17 August, the Scottish National Gallery will host ‘The Generator’, an immersive experimental studio space for children and families to make and explore contemporary art. Painting to music, dressing like an artist and adding contributions to a specially created mural will be just some of the things on offer. Additionally, there will be new tours and workshops for schools and CPD sessions for teachers plus a new tour for visually impaired visitors, devised and designed by pupils from Drummond High and the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh.

GENERATION is a nationwide series of exhibitions celebrating 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland. The wide-ranging programme will feature over 100 artists exhibiting in over 60 venues, galleries and exhibition spaces the length and breadth of Scotland between April and November 2014. Part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, GENERATION is being delivered through a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Life, supported by Creative Scotland. GENERATION is being produced with the assistance and expertise of partners including EventScotland, British Council Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland, VisitScotland, BBC Scotland, Education Scotland, Children in Scotland and Young Scot.

Children celebrate success in Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools at the Scottish National Gallery

Today (Wednesday 18 June) children from across Scotland will gather at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh to celebrate winning Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools.

The judges were kept busy as talented youngsters from schools across all 32 Scottish local authorities submitted a grand total of 7,171 entries.

At the special awards ceremony the winning young artists will be commended in their respective categories, and see their artwork go on display to the public for the very first time. All 53 prize-winning entries will remain on show at the Gallery until 28 October 2014, before touring across Scotland.

The competition was set up by the National Galleries of Scotland in 2004 to encourage children to interact with, and be inspired by, artworks in the national collection. Tesco Bank has proudly supported the competition for the last three years.

Every year a selection of works in the National Galleries’ collection is chosen to inspire entrants in each of the six age categories.

In celebration of the theme for this year’s Primary 1-3 group ‘Drumming Soldiers and Fluttering Fairies’, children at the awards ceremony will have a chance to meet a ballet dancer Claire Pentony in fairy costume and Fusilier McEntee from the Royal Regiment of Scotland in full dress uniform.

These special guests will be available for a photo-opportunity with four of winners from this category: Katherine Bruce, Portree Primary School (Highland Council), Megan McVey, Sanquar Primary School (Dumfries and Galloway Council), Aaron Maclarty, Easdale Primary School (Argyle and Bute Council) and Joel Lyth, McLean Primary School (Fife Council).

This category was partly inspired by the striking image Piper and Drummer of the 92nd Gordon Highlander (pictured) by the great Scottish pioneers of photography, D O Hill and Robert Adamson, as well as Sir Joseph Noel Paton’s celebrated painting The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania.

Thanks to Tesco Bank’s support the Galleries has been able to hold a series of roadshows across Scotland, which have helped the competition to grow enormously in the last three years. Of the 54,000 entries in the competition’s 11-year history nearly 25,000 have been submitted since Tesco Bank became the competition partner in 2011.

John Leighton, Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland, commented:

“We continue to be impressed by the wonderful selection of entries to the Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools – a real indication of the immense creative talent to be found in young people all across Scotland. In our eleventh year we were delighted to once again receive entries for all 32 council areas from across the country. It is so important to us that this competition reaches as many young people as possible, giving them – and their teachers - an opportunity to discover and experiment with art, inspired by their surroundings and their very own national collection.”

“It was a great pleasure to see so many wonderful entries from across the country. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how much enthusiasm there is for the magic of visual art. At Tesco Bank we strive to support the communities in which we operate by using our scale for good. That means providing valuable opportunities to help customers and their families live healthier and happier lives.”

A group of around 30 outstanding drawings, watercolours and prints will go on display at the Scottish National Gallery this summer in an exhibition which highlights some of the superb recent additions to the permanentcollection.

The aptly named First Sight exhibition will provide the general public with the chance to see many of these fabulous acquisitions for the first time following careful conservation treatment. It also offers an incredibly diverse experience, with pieces ranging from large-scale exhibition watercolours to small working sketches, from Rembrandt in the 17th-century to Paul Cézanne in the late 19th-century.

Acquisitions on show for the first time include an evocative watercolour by James Skene of Rubislaw which was inspired by The Heart of Midlothian, the celebrated novel by his close friend Sir Walter Scott; a delicate watercolour of Glasgow Cathedral by painted by David Roberts in 1829; and a colourful Neapolitan costume study by Giovanni Battista Lusieri from the late 18th-century (pictured).

J M W Turner’s spectacular watercolour of Rome from Monte Mario, 1820, will once again be on show after it was briefly included in the Turner in January exhibition in 2013, along with a delicate red chalk drawing from about 1710 by Jean-Antoine Watteau. Both these pieces were allocated to the Galleries by the Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme.

There are also landscapes by artists new to the collection, such as the Italian watercolourist Carlo Labruzzi and British artists Thomas Miles Richardson Junior and Francis Nicholson, as well as prints from the magnificent bequest made by celebrated art collectors Henry and Sula Walton in 2012 which includes etchings by Goya, Jean-Franҫois Millet and Edouard Manet.

The Scottish National Gallery’s collection of prints and drawings has been built up through purchase, donation and bequest over many years. The generosity of supporters, donors, funding bodies and organisations has together helped to make the continued growth of this much treasured collection possible.

Works of art on paper make up the largest area of the Gallery’s permanent collection, comprising around 30,000 prints, drawings, watercolours, sketchbooks and antiquarian volumes. When not on display, this vast resource is made available to the general public in the Prints and Drawings Study Room at the Scottish National Gallery, open Monday to Friday 10am-12.30pm and 2pm-4.30pm.

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12 June 2014John Byrne's first solo exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland to open this week

Organised in partnership with Inverness Museum and Art Gallery. Part of High Life Highland.

Part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, 31 July – 31 August 2014

A stunning new exhibition of portraits by one of the UK’s most versatile and accomplished artists will open the summer season at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this week.

Born in Paisley in 1940, John Byrne has had a remarkable career over the last five decades, enjoying huge success as an artist, theatre designer, playwright and screenwriter. As a painter, as in life, Byrne is difficult to pin down, skillfully switching between an extraordinary array of styles, in a manner which betrays his restless intelligence and his remarkable ability to absorb disparate influences from the art of the past and draw upon them at will.

John Byrne: Sitting Ducks will explore and celebrate Byrne’s innovative and richly varied portraiture, with a selection of around 30 paintings and drawings, dating from the early 1970s to the present day. Focussing mainly upon sitters who are close to him - his children, partners, family members, friends and colleagues - it will also feature many witty and insightful self-portraits, such as Self-portrait with Yellow Cigarette (1986) and Ceci n’est pas un Auto-Portrait (c.2003), his homage to the Belgian surrealist Magritte.

Among the highlights will be a number of striking portraits of the actress Tilda Swinton, the artist’s former partner; iconic images of Billy Connolly, whom Byrne first met through their mutual friend, the singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty (whose beautiful, hand-painted guitar will also be on show); and an unforgettable portrait of the actor Robbie Coltrane in the guise of Danny McGlone, one of the principal characters in the six-time BAFTA award-winning series Tutti Frutti, which Byrne wrote for the BBC in 1984.

Alongside these well-known images will be a fascinating selection of more intimate and revealing works, generously lent by a number of private collectors, which have rarely been seen in public. These include brilliant and touching images of Byrne’s children: John and Celie from his first marriage (the latter featuring in an extraordinary pastel sketch from the early 1970s, Celie Watching TV); and Tilda Swinton’s twins Honor and Xavier, who appear, singly and together, in a number of memorable portraits.

The exhibition’s punning title underlines the significance of loved ones in Byrne’s work. Falling so easily within his sights, they are a source of endless fascination for him, and are often, as a result, the subject of his most powerful works. Byrne is also an obsessive painter of his own likeness, having created hundreds of self-portraits in the course of his long career. For Byrne, identity is fluid, shifting and inconstant, and he appears in his paintings in a dizzying range of guises, somehow concealing as much as he reveals.

Indeed, Byrne’s first success as an artist came in the late 1960s when he submitted a series of paintings to a London gallery, claiming they were the work of ‘Patrick’, a retired labourer who painted as a hobby. The works were painted in a faux-naïve style which stemmed from Byrne’s admiration for the work of ‘primitive’ painters like his great hero Henri ‘Le Douanier’ Rousseau (a self-taught French artist who was championed by Picasso and the surrealists). They were an instant hit, and though he quickly had to reveal his true identity, Byrne continued to produce work in a similar vein. Sitting Ducks will feature some key works from this period, including Self-Portrait in a Flowered Jacket (1971-3) and the remarkable TheAmerican Boy (1971), a powerful and enigmatic image, painted on an epic scale.

Byrne’s ‘Patrick’ paintings belied his training and sophistication as an artist (he had been described by the registrar at Glasgow School of Art as one of the most gifted young painters ever to have studied there), and demonstrate how easily he can shift gear in his work. Some portraits, such as Xavier Asleep (2001),are dashed off with breath-taking facility while others, Sir Raymond Johnstone (1993) for example, are executed with immense control and precision. Many are done partly or wholly from memory rather than from life, with their realism filtered through Byrne’s imagination. Works such as Red and Unread (2002/04, a painting of Tilda Swinton), which are part-portrait and part-caricature, are described by Byrne as ‘formal’ portraits – images which capture and present the essence of the sitter unmistakably. Tellingly, Xavier Swinton-Byrne was once asked about the length of time he had to sit for his father and replied with a smile “My Dad knows what I look like.”

A profoundly individual artist, John Byrne has always admired painters who broke the rules, or who, like Rousseau, didn’t seem to realise that there were any. The prodigious range of work on show in Sitting Ducks illustrates how aptly the same claim can be made for Byrne himself, as well as the remarkable technical prowess, versatility, ingenuity, inventiveness, fun and gravity that he has brought to the genre of portraiture.

Speaking of the exhibition Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said, “It is especially fitting that we should be celebrating the wonderfully diverse and accomplished portraiture of John Byrne – as he was the man who re-opened the doors of the Portrait Gallery following its successful re-development in 2011. I think visitors will find this a hugely enjoyable exhibition, as it combines iconic works with surprises, public figures and private moments. Underpinning them all is great warmth, wit and technical skill.”

Following its appearance in Edinburgh the exhibition will tour to Inverness, 1 – 29 November 2014.

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26 May 2014Last chance for young artists to win exclusive creative opportunity

LAST CHANCE FOR YOUNG ARTISTS TO WIN EXCLUSIVE CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY WITH URBAN OUTFITTERS AND THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART

Urban Outfitters and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art have teamed up in the search for a young artist or designer to create a new piece of window art, to coincide with the Gallery’s major summer exhibition GENERATION: 25 years of Contemporary Art in Scotland. The winner of the Window Art Competition will have their design installed at the Urban Outfitters store on Edinburgh’s Princes St, where it will remain on show during August, at the height of Edinburgh’s Festival period.

The competition was launched earlier this month, and the deadline for entries has been set for Thursday 29 May. The winning artist will collaborate with the store’s display artist to bring their vision to life and create a unique and exciting display which both encapsulates the feel of Urban Outfitter’s brand and GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland.

The competition is open to 16-30-year-olds living in Scotland, offering a chance for budding and more established artists to see their work featured in a highly prominent location.

GENERATION: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland is a landmark series of exhibitions that celebrates some of the very best art to have emerged from Scotland in the last 25 years, and will be shown at more than 60 venues across the country from June to October 2014. This nationwide programme will be one of the most ambitious celebrations of contemporary art ever held by a single country, recognising the huge international acclaim that artists working with Scotland have achieved over the last generation.

As part of this the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art will mount a ground-breaking, three-part exhibition at Modern One, the Scottish National Gallery and Scottish National Portrait Gallery, offering an unprecedented view of the diverse ways contemporary art has developed in Scotland over the past 25 years.

More than 30 artists will be represented across the three sites, bringing together show-stopping, room-sized installations and iconic works made at pivotal moments. As well as looking back over the last 25 years, the exhibition shows the continuing dynamism of art in this country, with the inclusion of six newly commissioned installations and several new paintings, drawings and photographic works.

The winner of the Window Art Competition will receive £500 of Urban Outfitters gift vouchers, as well as invitations to the GENERATION opening events.

Closing date for entrants is 29 May 2014.

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Notes to Editors: For further information please contact the press office at the National Galleries of Scotland on pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org or 0131 624 6314/6332/6247/6325/.

About GENERATIONGENERATION is a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Life, supported by Creative Scotland, and is part of Culture 2014, the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme.

1 May 2014Gareth Hoskins Architects Announced As Architect For Scottish National Gallery Project

GARETH HOSKINS ARCHITECTS ANNOUNCED AS ARCHITECT FOR SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY PROJECT

The National Galleries of Scotland announced today, 1 May 2014, that Gareth Hoskins Architects has been appointed to oversee a major transformational project at the Scottish National Gallery over the next 4 years.

Galleries devoted to the national collection of historic Scottish art will be radically overhauled and significantly expanded whilst greatly improving visitor circulation and facilities at the Scottish National Gallery. The iconic building situated at The Mound in the centre of Edinburgh currently welcomes over a million visitors each year. The development aims to almost double the display space for Scottish art within the Scottish National Gallery designed by William Henry Playfair (1790-1857) and which opened in 1859.

Gareth Hoskins Architects is one of Scotland’s leading architectural practices. With studios in Glasgow and Berlin the practice is involved in a wide range of projects across Scotland and internationally. The practice has established a particular reputation for their design of arts and cultural schemes and the Scottish National Gallery project follows on from recent developments such as the Mareel Concert Hall in Shetland and the RIAS Doolan Award winning redevelopment of the National Museum of Scotland.

Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery said: “The outstanding collection of Scottish Art held at the Scottish National Gallery has an international significance and this transformational project will allow for the creation of new and innovative displays to inspire our growing number of visitors from all over the world. We look forward to working with Gareth Hoskins and his experienced team to deliver this exciting project.”

Gareth Hoskins commented: “We and our wider team are incredibly excited at the opportunity of working with the National Galleries to create new spaces for their fantastic collection of Scottish art as part of the ongoing evolution of one of Edinburgh and Playfair’s most significant groupings of cultural buildings.”

The practice has worked with a wide range of cultural organisations including the Victoria & Albert Museum, National Museums Scotland and the National Theatre for Scotland and is currently working with the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Strawberry Fields in Liverpool and Bird College of Arts in London. Further afield the practice designed Scotland’s pavilion for the Venice Biennale and recently won the international competitions for the Landesmuseum in Schleswig Holstein, the redevelopment of the Berlin State Library and the World Museum in Vienna.

Brief history of the Scottish National Gallery

Designed by the architect William Henry Playfair (1790-1857), the Royal Scottish Academy and the National Gallery of Scotland stand in the heart of Edinburgh. Although originally built as separate structures, their histories have long been intertwined, and since the completion of the Playfair Project in 2004, they have been physically joined by the underground Gardens Entrance.

Architecture

Playfair was Scotland’s leading architect of his era and was responsible for a number of Edinburgh buildings, although his two galleries on The Mound are generally regarded as his finest. For the Royal Scottish Academy building (originally the RI), Playfair had chosen the Doric order, and designed a programme of sculptural decoration to reflect its inhabitant’s interest in ornament and design. For scenic effect, he made a deliberate contrast in his designs for the National Gallery building and opted for the graceful Ionic order. His two classical temples to the arts achieved a picturesque harmony with the dramatic backdrop of Edinburgh Castle.

The latest phase in The Mound’s history saw the completion of a link between the Royal Scottish Academy Building and the National Gallery of Scotland. Award-winning architects John Miller and Partners rose to the challenge of developing the two grand architectural pedigrees for modern use. The newly refurbished RSA is now a world-class exhibition space, while the underground Gardens Entrance houses a range of new visitor facilities, including the Clore Education Centre, a 200-seat lecture theatre and cinema, an IT Gallery and a 120-seat restaurant.

Other NGS redevelopment projects-

The Scottish National Gallery underwent a transformation with the Playfair Project completed in 2004. This £32 million project included the complete refurbishment of the Royal Scottish Academy and the creation of an underground link between the SNG and the RSA with additional visitor facilities such as a lecture theatre, café, restaurant and shop. The transformation allowed the site to become one of the key visitor attractions to the city.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopened to the public on 1 December 2011 after a major refurbishment project. The £17.6 million was the first major refurbishment in the Gallery’s 120-year history and restored much of the architect’s original vision, opening up previously inaccessible parts of the building and increasing the public space by more than 60 percent.

4 April 2014Skills For the Future programme funding for the National Galleries of Scotland

SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE PROGRAMME FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) has received a £611,100 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund under its Skills for the Future programme to support the National Galleries of Scotland Heritage Lottery Fund Collections Online Traineeships, a training programme for 18-24 year-olds. The project will be a dedicated training programme focussing on developing skills which are in demand throughout the heritage sector.

Starting in September 2014, 2 groups of 6 trainees will spend 18 months gaining first-hand experience of handling, documenting, digitising and researching the NGS collection of photography and works on paper. It is estimated that 20,000-30,000 works from the collection will be digitised during the project, due to end in July 2018. The outcome of the trainees’ work on the collection will be available online through the NGS website.

As museums and galleries across the UK and the world continue to widen access to collections online, the NGS recognises the need to provide the heritage sector with trained, qualified professionals who are able to deliver digitisation and online curatorial projects. The Traineeships will offer a unique opportunity for its participants to learn a range of heritage skills and to gain an SQA-accredited qualification relevant to a future career in heritage. The trainees will learn skills ranging from art and object handling and storage, curatorial research to online curatorial interpretation and writing skills to copyright clearance and research.

Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to enable young people to have access to and training in the skills required for a career in the heritage sector. It will also help enormously in making our collections even more accessible.”

The project will also be an opportunity for NGS to share their own leading expertise in this area and further collaborate with the National Library of Scotland, their shared-services partner. The trainees will be able to spend 20 weeks working with the National Library Scotland to learn from the Library’s experience with works such as books, maps, manuscripts and their extensive photography collection.

The trainees will be based in Edinburgh at the Scottish National Gallery and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, where the prints, drawings and photography collections are located, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art where the Collections Care department is based.

NGS is already strongly committed to offering volunteer placements across the organisation; over the last 3 years several volunteers have worked on digitisation-related projects, with the vast majority gaining employment in the culture sector and beyond following their internship. It is expected that at the end of the project, the trainees will become highly employable in the heritage sector, from galleries and museums to collections management, professional imaging, publications, research and more widely in cultural management.

For further information please contact the National Galleries Press Office on 0131 624 6314/6325 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

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Notes to editors:

• Launched in July 2009, Skills for the Future is an HLF programme supporting organisations across the UK to develop vocational learning programmes. HLF has awarded grants totalling £47m under this programme enabling high-quality work-based training, the development of new qualifications and capacity building in the sector.

• Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. HLF has supported 36,000 projects with £6bn across the UK www.hlf.org.uk @heritagelottery.

27 March 2014Rare cubist drawing by Picasso acquired by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

RARE CUBIST DRAWING BY PICASSO ACQUIRED BY THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to announce the acquisition of a highly important drawing by Pablo Picasso, which goes on display for the first time today. This landmark purchase was made thanks to an enormously generous legacy made by Henry and Sula Walton.

Dating from 1912, Head is a large charcoal drawing of exceptional quality. Drawings from this crucial period in Picasso’s career are extremely rare and the larger works, such as Head, which measures 64.9 x 49.5 cm, are nearly all in museum collections.

Henry Walton (1924-2012) was Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of International Medical Education at the University of Edinburgh; Dr Sula Wolff (1924-2009) was an eminent Consultant Child Psychiatrist and the author of internationally acclaimed books on child psychiatry. Not only did they bequeath their art collection to the Gallery, but they also established the Henry and Sula Walton Charitable Fund, specifically to help the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art make new and important acquisitions.

Henry and Sula Walton were particularly passionate about Picasso’s work, assembling a collection of more than a dozen prints by the artist. Picasso’s cubist work dates from about 1907 to 1915. Rather than try to copy nature, Picasso was interested in recreating it by pulling it apart and recomposing it. Part of the impetus behind cubism comes from the desire to view an object from different sides, and re-compose these different views in a single picture. Cubism is arguably the most important development in art since the Renaissance, and its influence on art and design can hardly be over-estimated.

Simon Groom, Director of the Gallery of Modern Art announced: ‘I think Henry and Sula Walton would have been thrilled by this acquisition. They were passionate about art, passionate about the Gallery, and passionate that the very greatest artworks should be available for our visitors to see. This drawing lies right at the start of modern art. It is bold, dramatic and hugely inventive: with works such as this Picasso completely re-wrote the rules on art. There are comparable drawings in museums in Paris and New York, but nothing like it in any UK public collection. I think Henry and Sula would have been proud to change that.’

Picasso hoarded huge numbers of his drawings, and at his death in 1973, most of them passed to the French state and in turn became part of the new Musée Picasso in Paris. This drawing belonged to Picasso’s grand-daughter, Marina Picasso, from whom it was purchased by Jan Krugier (1924-2008), one of the world’s leading dealers in modern art. He kept it for his own collection. His celebrated collection of drawings was offered for sale at a Sotheby’s auction in London in February this year; the Gallery acquired it directly at auction.

The Gallery now boasts a world-class group of works by Picasso. The drawing relates to several works by Picasso already in the collection: a collage Head, 1913; and the large Weeping Woman etching of 1937.

Prof Elizabeth Cowling, a world-renowned expert on Picasso, will deliver a lunchtime talk on the work in the Studio, at the Gallery of Modern Art on 14 April at 12.45: admission free.

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25 March 2014Important loan from Royal Collection Trust to Scottish National Portrait Gallery re-unites old friends

Two paintings from the Royal Collection, generously lent by Her Majesty The Queen, will be on show at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this spring. The display of the two paintings - a spectacular full-length portrait of King Charles I painted by the Dutch master Daniel Mytens in 1628, and an enigmatic, late-sixteenth-century portrait of an unknown woman by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger – complements the exhibition In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, which opens at The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh on 14 March and runs until 20 July.

Mytens’s dazzling, brilliantly coloured portrait of Charles has been hung alongside the SNPG’s portrait of James Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, which Mytens painted a year after completing the image of the King – the first time that these two portraits have been shown together. Hamilton was a close advisor and friend to Charles I. The two men were similar in age and shared a passion for collecting art - Hamilton was the only Scottish noble whose collection rivalled the King’s. In 1646 Charles appointed him as the first hereditary Keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, a title retained to this day by the current Duke of Hamilton. However his relationship with the King could not hide the fact that he was a disastrous military leader: he was defeated and captured by Cromwell at the battle of Preston in 1648, and within six weeks of Charles I’s execution he was put to death on the same scaffold. This display shows these two important figures and friends reunited through major portraits by the same artist.

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, is believed to depict a woman wearing masque costume. The masque, an Elizabethan form of court entertainment and revelry, which featured dance, music and complex allegories, was revitalised at the Stuart court by the masques produced by Inigo Jones and Ben Jonson, under the patronage of James VI and I’s wife Anne of Denmark. Anne was responsible for commissioning and performing in the most sophisticated and extravagant productions that the court had ever seen. The portrait, which has never been on display in Scotland, shows the type of costumes worn in such displays, and now hangs alongside portraits of Queen Anne’s Jester Tom Derry and the poet William Drummond of Hawthornden - works which explore the theme of culture and performance at the Stuart court.

The two loans from Royal Collection Trust will be shown at the Portrait Gallery as part of its exhibition Reformation to Revolution, which charts the evolving use and style of portraiture from a time of Catholic absolute monarchy in the mid-16th century, to the Protestant revolution at the end of the 17th century.

The loans coincide with the opening of In Fine Style atthe Palace of Holyroodhouse, which explores the sumptuous costume of British monarchs and their court during the 16th and 17th centuries, through portraits in the Royal Collection.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, commented: “We are delighted that these major portraits have been generously lent to the Gallery, as they enable us to explore with wonderfully rich imagery key aspects of court life in the early seventeenth century.”

Royal Collection Trust, a department of the Royal Household, is responsible for the care of the Royal Collection and manages the public opening of the official residences of The Queen. Income generated from admissions and from associated commercial activities contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational programmes. Royal Collection Trust’s work is undertaken without public funding of any kind.

www.royalcollection.org.uk

The Royal Collection is among the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. It comprises almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, and is spread among some 13 royal residences and former residences across the UK, most of which are regularly open to the public. The Royal Collection is held in trust by the Sovereign for her successors and the nation, and is not owned by The Queen as a private individual.

At The Queen’s Galleries in London and Edinburgh and in the Drawings Gallery at Windsor Castle, aspects of the Collection are displayed in a programme of temporary exhibitions. Many works from the Collection are on long-term loan to institutions throughout the UK, and short-term loans are frequently made to exhibitions around the world as part of a commitment to public access and to show the Collection in new contexts.

TITIAN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF VENETIAN ART22 March – 14 September 2014SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY, The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2ELAdmission freeTelephone 0131 624 6200

Exhibition generously supported by the Friends of the National Galleries of Scotland

Two of the world’s most celebrated paintings will be at the heart of a fascinating new exhibition which opens at the Scottish National Gallery this week. Titian’s Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto were jointly acquired by the Scottish National Gallery and the National Gallery in London in 2009 and 2012, following a nationwide fundraising campaign. Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Art will draw upon the Gallery’s superb collection of sixteenth-century Venetian paintings, drawings and prints to provide context for these paintings and illuminate this exceptionally creative period in the city’s history.

A major coup for the exhibition is the opportunity to show for the first time in Scotland Titian’s late masterpiece, the Death of Actaeon, from the National Gallery, London. This is the first time it has been lent anywhere since the National Gallery acquired it in 1972. The picture was intended as part of the same series as the two Diana scenes, but was never fully resolved by the artist and remained in his studio until his death.

The exhibition will include 16 paintings and some 30 drawings and prints by most the top names in Venetian art of the period, including Lorenzo Lotto, Palma Vecchio, Jacopo Bassano, Jacopo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. Highlights will include Bassano’s festive pageant, the Adoration of the Kings, and Tintoretto’s altarpiece, Christ Carried to the Tomb, as well as Titian’s early pastoral masterpiece, the Three Ages of Man.

This latter painting is part of the incomparable Bridgewater Loan of Old Master Paintings to the Scottish National Gallery. Crucially, the acquisition of the two Diana paintings from the same collection has guaranteed the continuation of this entire loan until at least 2030. Notable among the selection of works on paper is a rare, recently identified drawing by Titian, which the Gallery acquired, unrecognised for what it was, at auction in 2007. Also on show will be a fine selection of prints reproducing works by Titian.

Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto formed part of a series of six large mythological paintings by Titian with subjects drawn from the ancient writer Ovid’s Metamorphoses. One of the greatest series of paintings in European art, the works were painted over a ten-year period (about 1552-62) for the Spanish king, Philip II, who was Titian’s most important patron for the last two decades of his career. The two Diana scenes have been admired by artists ever since they were painted, from Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velázquez in the seventeenth century, to the great twentieth-century British painter Lucian Freud, who described them as ‘simply the most beautiful pictures in the world’.

The exhibition also affords the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery, London, an opportunity to recognise and thank the many organisations and individuals who contributed so generously to the acquisitions of these extraordinary pictures

Ben Thomson, Chairman of the Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: ‘Thanks to a fantastic collaboration with the National Gallery in London we were able to secure two superlative masterpieces for the public. We look forward to building on this collaboration in the future.’

A free Titian & Diana app is available to download from nationalgalleries.org. Generously supported by the Art Fund, the app offers extensive audio and visual content, including curatorial interviews, about these iconic paintings.

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Notes to editors

Diana and Actaeon, 1556-59Purchased jointly by the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery, London, with contributions from The Scottish Government, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Monument Trust, the Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation), Artemis Investment Management Ltd, Binks Trust, Mr Busson on behalf of EIM Group, Dunard Fund, The Fuserna Foundation, Gordon Getty, The Hintze Family Charitable Foundation, J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust, John Dodd, Northwood Charitable Trust, The Rothschild Foundation, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement and through public appeal 2009

Diana and Callisto, 1556-59Purchased jointly by the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery, London, with contributions from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation), The Monument Trust, J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust, Mr and Mrs James Kirkman, Sarah and David Kowitz, Chris Rokos, The Rothschild Foundation, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement and through private appeal and bequests 2012

Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto are jointly owned by NGS and the National Gallery London. The two paintings are displayed together on a rotating basis between Edinburgh and London.

Two of Scotland’s most admired authors will be at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) in Edinburgh his week for the unveiling of the latest addition to the national collection - a striking new portrait of renowned crime writer Ian Rankin. The meticulous and thoughtful painting was commissioned from Edinburgh-based artist Guy Kinder by another of Scotland’s most high-profile contemporary writers, Alexander McCall Smith, who has generously presented it to the Gallery.

Guy Kinder’s insightful portrait depicts Rankin in a contemplative pose, in the surroundings of the Oxford Bar, the Edinburgh pub famously frequented by both his fictional creation, Inspector Rebus, and the author himself. The portrait was commissioned in 2013 by McCall Smith, the bestselling author and friend of Ian Rankin, and was first shown, to great acclaim, in the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in May of last year.

Following an unveiling at the SNPG on 27 March, the portrait will join the Gallery’s rich collection of portraits which celebrate the achievements of Scotland’s great literary figures, from Burns and Scott to Stevenson and Barrie.

Born in Cardenden in Fife in 1960, Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and began writing books while working towards a PhD on modern Scottish fiction. His Rebus novels, the first of which was published in 1987, have been translated into 36 languages and are bestsellers across the world, winning Rankin numerous awards, including four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards, America’s Edgar Award, Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz Prize and the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir.

In 2009 the author was rewarded for his outstanding contribution to the cultural and social landscape of Edinburgh when he became the first recipient of the Edinburgh Award and was also appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Edinburgh. He has received honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Hull and the Open University, and was awarded the OBE for services to literature in 2003.

The artist Guy Kinder was born in 1960 and studied drawing and painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art under the eminent Scottish artists Alberto Morrocco and David McClure. He ran a successful commercial gallery for many years and is an award-winning filmmaker. Kinder has painted throughout his career, undertaking commissions and taking part in exhibitions in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee. He now paints full-time from his Edinburgh studio, and specialises in portraiture.

Speaking of the painting, Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said, ‘This is a very welcome addition to the national collection – a powerful portrait of one of Scotland’s greatest contemporary writers by a highly skilled local artist. It is also a most generous gift to the Gallery from a friend of both the painter and the sitter.’

Alexander McCall Smith added, ‘It gives me the greatest possible pleasure to present this portrait to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. I think that Guy Kinder has captured Rankin perfectly. Ian is a good and kind man and I think that this comes out in the portrait, while at the same time the artist has somehow managed to hint at the atmosphere of Ian’s novels. The result, I think, is something of a triumph.’

Ian Rankin added, ‘I've only been painted a few times in my life, usually as a caricature to accompany a newspaper review of one of my books, so it was slightly unnerving to see how well Guy Kinder had captured me. Of course, he found me in my natural habitat - the Oxford Bar - so I'm more at ease than in some situations. I like the painting a lot, but I do wonder what I was thinking at the time. Maybe my drink is just out of view...’

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18 March 2014John Watson Prize-winner unveils new work at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

The winner of the 2012 John Watson Prize, which is awarded each year to a graduating student at Edinburgh College of Art, will present her most recent work in a new display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art this week. Zoë Fothergill, whose impressive degree show earned her the award, is fascinated by the ways in which digital technologies have begun to alter our experience of the world. The three new pieces she has created for Fur, Bizmuth & Spiny Oyster are based on her research into the internet phenomenon Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR).

The term describes the physical response, generally felt as a pleasurable tingling in the head and scalp, which is reportedly caused by exposure to a range of sensory triggers, and which has been closely linked in recent years to the experience of watching homemade ‘whisperer’ videos posted on internet sites such as YouTube. These videos are posted by people known as ‘ASMRtists’, who attempt to stimulate the viewer’s response by addressing the camera in a soft voice, and generating gentle, soothing sounds, by touching, handling and describing inanimate (and sometimes animate) objects - crinkling paper, tapping fingernails, or brushing hair for example.

To date there has been no dedicated research to establish a physiological basis for ASMR, but news reports have suggested that many people successfully use the videos as a means of alleviating the effects of stress or insomnia. The experience is described in a variety of ways, but for some it is akin to synaesthesia (where the stimulation of one sense produces a secondary, involuntary stimulation of another), or to hypnosis. For others it has a titillating or confessional thrill, but for most of the hundreds of thousands of people in the online community that has grown up around ASMR these intimate, non-sexualised exchanges are the source of the specific, euphoric sensation which has variously been described as a ‘brain massage’, ‘head tingle’ and ‘braingasm’.

Fur, Bizmuth & Spiny Oyster, comprises three new works which explore the different forms that ASMR videos can take, and celebrates Fothergill’s fascination with the phenomenon, combining found online footage with studio-based material produced by the artist.

The first film, Keep Delete (2014), focuses on the show-and-tell format adopted by many ASMRtists, as they handle a range of objects and describe for the viewer their tactile, material qualities. The work combines a beautifully edited collage of YouTube video clips with a whispered narrative recorded by the artist. This follows the transcript of an online editorial discussion around the absence of scientific evidence which preceded the deletion of the first ASMR page on Wikipedia.

How does that feel? (2014) will be presented on a small screen with headphones, positioned at a desk and chair, to allow visitors to experience the work individually. The film brings together a succession of clips from ‘role-play’ videos, the other principal format used by ASMRtists. In these the performer enacts a scenario which mimics a direct, one-to-one interaction between themselves and the viewer – such as a session at the hair salon, an eye examination or a make-up application – which is again accompanied by a softly-spoken or whispered monologue, recorded on binaural (or 3-D) microphones to intensify the illusion of a personal, intimate encounter.

The final film casts three objects - fur, bizmuth and spiny oyster- as its principal characters, who together enact a ‘transactional analysis’ (a form of psychoanalysis that originated in 1960s California) of ASMR. The work explores the nature of the interaction between the performer and the viewer, as well as the psychological motives behind individuals’ involvement in the ASMR community.

A limited edition publication has been hand-made by the artist to accompany the exhibition. It includes two commissioned texts, a contextual piece by Emma Balkind and a fictional work by James Clegg, in addition to an interview between SNGMA curator Linsey Young and the artist. Imagery produced by the artist is combined with specific paper/fabric selection to make the publication both a visual and tactile experience. The publication has been made possible by the generous support of Arts Trust Scotland.

The research for this body of work was initiated during a residency at Hospitalfield Arts, Arbroath in July 2013 for which the artist was awarded funding by Creative Scotland’s Professional Development Programme.

Since graduation Fothergill has exhibited extensively including at Embassy, in Edinburgh (2013), at Flood, in Dublin (2013) and at FilmForum in Los Angeles (2014).

A collection of 27 outstanding watercolours by the famous Victorian writer, poet and artist Edward Lear (1812-1888), is on show at the Scottish National Gallery this spring. Edward Lear in Greece highlights the superb draughtsmanship of this versatile artist and examines his enchanting depictions of Greek landscapes, all part of the SNG’s permanent collection. The display includes both highly finished studio watercolours, such as Athens 1849, and sketches drawn in situ and annotated with Lear’s notes about details of the landscape and weather. Lear’s sketches, in particular, are now widely admired for the elegance and precision of his drawing and for their vivid and spontaneous evocation of place.

Although now perhaps best known for his limericks and nonsense verse, Edward Lear (1812-1888) was also a superb zoological draughtsman, a talented musician and a celebrated landscape artist. He began to draw commercially at the age of 16 and his illustrations of birds quickly brought him to the attention of an affluent patron, Lord Stanley, who commissioned drawings from his private menagerie. In 1834 he turned his attention to landscape drawings and moved to Rome three years later; he kept travelling until his death and produced over 10,000 sketches inspired by his journeys

Lear first visited Greece in 1848 and was immediately mesmerized by the landscape. Unlike many other artists of the time, he was as captivated by the recent history and contemporary life of Greece as by the country’s antique past. Despite suffering poor health he travelled widely throughout Greece, from Athens and the Peloponnese to the remote mountains of the Epirus region in the north-west which are represented in the two stunning Suli watercolours. Lear wrote of his aim to travel to and paint sites not previously represented by other artists; he visited Mount Athos, the Holy Mountain of the Orthodox Church, in 1856. Also widely depicted in the display is the island of Corfu, where Lear lived and worked on-and-off for a decade

The works in the display have recently received conservation treatment, which has transformed their appearance and revealed delightful colours. During the process a previously unknown sketch by Lear was revealed on the back of one work. The display offers further information about these fascinating discoveries. The watercolours on show were accepted by HM Government in lieu of tax and allocated to the SNG in 2003. They come from the outstanding collection of the distinguished historian Sir Steven Runciman (1903-2000) whose portrait by Steven Conroy is in the SNPG.

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27 February 2014Taylor Wessing Prize bring the world's best new portrait photography to Scottish National Portrait Gallery

The best new portrait photography from around the world will feature in a stunning exhibition which opens at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) in Edinburgh this week. The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize brings together 60 outstanding entries from the 2013 competition, which attracted more than 5,000 submissions from some of the most talented photographers working today.

Established in 1993, this prestigious prize is organised by the National Portrait Gallery in London and has been sponsored by international law firm Taylor Wessing for the last six years. The £12,000 first prize was awarded this year to Spencer Murphy, 35, for his mesmerising portrait of Irish jump jockey Katie Walsh. Taken at Kempton Park racecourse when she was shooting a series of jump jockeys’ portraits for Channel Four’s The Original Extreme Sport campaign, the portrait shows the mud-spattered and dishevelled Murphy in the racing colours of Seabass, the horse which she rode to third place in the 2012 Grand National.

Speaking of his winning portrait, Spencer Murphy said: ‘I wanted to show both her femininity and the toughness of spirit she requires to compete against the best riders in one of the most demanding disciplines in horse racing. I chose to shoot the series on large format film, to give the images a depth and timelessness that I think would have been hard to achieve on a digital camera.’

Second prize was taken by Giles Price, a former Royal Marine Commando who took up photography during the first Gulf War in Iraq. His image Kumbh Mela Pilgrim Mamta Dubey and infant is part of a series shot in a makeshift, pop-up studio at the 2013 Kumbh Mela, the annual congregation of up to 100 million Hindu pilgrims in Allahabad, India.

Anoush Abrar’s simple but hugely powerful portrait of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan took third prize. The Iranian-born photographer’s achievement is made all the more remarkable by the fact that he had only three minutes of the Ghanaian diplomat’s time to complete his commission for the German publication Zeitmagazin.

The competition creates a fascinating mix of work by established professionals, photography students and gifted amateurs, working in a diverse range of styles and approaches, from editorial and advertising images to fine art. This year Dorothea Deiss, a paediatric endocrinologist in a Berlin clinic, who works on photographic projects in her spare time, was awarded fourth prize for her striking portrait of seventy-five-year-old identical twins Esther and Ruth, whom she photographed at their home for her series VisibleInvisible.

Among the diverse range of sitters and subjects featured in the show are a number of engaging portraits of well-known figures such as the actor Vanessa Redgrave, novelist Zadie Smith, Classical historian Mary Beard, ex-footballer Sol Campbell; and columnist and TV personality Charlie Brooker. Portraits taken in Ghana, USA, South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Syria, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Peru and Switzerland demonstrate the international scope and continuing significance of the competition.

Speaking of the exhibition, Annie Lyden, International Photography Curator at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said: ‘Portraiture is a critical component of photography dating back to the 1840s. This exhibition celebrates the genre from a contemporary perspective—presenting a multitude of portraits from celebrity figures to the unknown; the joyous to the melancholic; the everyday to the quirky, all of which are represented by these works.’

Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery London and competition judge, added: ‘The 2013 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exemplifies photographic portraiture at its most perceptive. These are sharp, engaging portraits. My congratulations to all the prize-winners.’

Tim Eyles, UK Managing Partner at international law firm Taylor Wessing and competition judge, added: ‘The photographic talent in the competition this year was as outstanding as ever. The selection of these winning portraits from the thousands submitted is a great testament to their quality. Our congratulations to all the shortlisted photographers.’’

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For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland's press office on 0131 624 6314 / 6325 / 6247

Notes to Editors

The fully illustrated book which accompanies this year’s exhibition features an essay by Kate Bush, Curator, and interviews with the prize-winners by Richard McClure. £15 paperback.

An extraordinary and challenging self-portrait by the celebrated Scottish artist Angela Palmer, which has been acquired by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, goes on display to the public for the first time today. Brain of the Artist (2013) is a striking example of Palmer’s unique sculptural technique, in which digital information provided by medical scanners is used to inspire a three-dimensional image, engraved or drawn on glass, which reveals the inner architecture contained within an object.

Palmer’s subject matter most often relates to the human form, taking in both portraiture and self-portraiture, although she has also explored the structures of animals and plants. The artist’s beautiful sculptures are painstakingly built up, plane by plane, from individual sheets of glass, onto which she has engraved the contours of a cross section of her subject, in this instance the artist’s own brain.

Each glass sheet ‘maps’ a section of the brain, using information from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, which the artist underwent at University College London. Brought together, the layered ‘maps’ create a 3D image which appears to float in a glass chamber, and which can only be perceived from certain angles, disappearing when the work is viewed from the side. The result is a most unusual and highly objective form of portraiture with a powerful, poignant beauty. Illuminated from below, Brain of the Artist is an elegant, ethereal work, which evokes the complexity and fragility of the human body. This stunning sculpture also prompts intriguing questions about the nature of portraiture and self-representation today.

Born in Aberdeen in 1957, Palmer had a distinguished career in journalism before studying at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford University and the Royal College of Art in London from 2002 to 2007. She came to international prominence in 2009 when her work Ghost Forest, an installation of West African rainforest tree stumps, was shown in Trafalgar Square in London and at the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, to highlight the depletion of the World’s natural resources. It is now on permanent display at The National Botanic Garden of Wales, Carmarthenshire.

Palmer developed her sculptural technique while studying anatomy at the Ruskin School and has subsequently worked on many projects with scientists at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Aberdeen University and University College London. One of the most sensational displays in the Egyptian galleries of the refurbished Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which opened to great acclaim in 2011, is Palmer’s AshmoleanMummy Boy, a work which reveals the contours of the child’s body wrapped within a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy.

She has also made similarly intimate portraits of an eighth-century BC Theban priest Djeddjehutyiuefankh and the legendary eighteenth-century thoroughbred racehorse Eclipse. Another notable series of portraits is based upon scans of the head of novelist Robert Harris, who drew upon Palmer’s work for one of the main characters in his 2011 novel The Fear Index.

Brain of the Artist is the first work by Angela Palmer to enter the collection of the SNPG. Speaking of the acquisition, Christopher Baker, Director of the Gallery, said: “This remarkable sculpture is a most welcome addition to the collection. A delicate and ethereal work, it develops in a novel and arresting way the nature of self-portraiture, and showcases the creativity of a highly inventive Scottish artist.”

Angela Palmer added: “It is an extraordinary experience, staring at your brain floating in a glass chamber before you. Unlike traditional portraiture, an image of one's brain does not depict anything recognisably ‘you’ and yet it could not be more intensely personal. I hope through this work, visitors will contemplate their own brain - the organ which makes us who we are, the command centre which controls our senses, our behaviour, our very being. It is an enormous honour to be exhibited in the Gallery, and all the more daunting in the Great Hall beneath the frieze depicting the most illustrious Scots in the world. Perhaps visitors will now glance up at these great figures above and reflect on the prodigious minds bearing down at them.”

The artist’s work is represented in the collections of the Wellcome Trust; the Institute of Medical Sciences, Aberdeen; the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; the Royal Bank of Scotland; and The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington.

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For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland's press office on 0131 624 6247 / 6314 / 6325

A unique Rembrandt etching has been rediscovered in the Print Room of the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. The print, a portrait of the Amsterdam preacher Jan Cornelis Sylvius (1564-1638), was previously catalogued as a copy of a work by Rembrandt. However, recent research by Dr Tico Seifert, the Gallery’s Senior Curator for Northern European Art, has established that the etching is the work of the Dutch master himself. Dr Seifert’s research has also confirmed that this is the only known version of the image to have been printed in red ink. Portrait of Jan Cornelis Sylvius will be on display to the public from today, Wednesday 22 January.

Speaking of his discovery, Dr Seifert said: ‘I became suspicious once I found that all the known copies of this print are in reverse – which this one obviously wasn’t. With mounting excitement I made further comparisons and it became increasingly clear that I was not dealing with the work of a copyist but looking at an etching by Rembrandt himself. I then contacted colleagues in Amsterdam to find out about impressions in red ink, which are generally very rare. To my great surprise and delight they told me it is a unique print.

The Print Room of the Scottish National Gallery houses more than 100 impressions of Rembrandt etchings, with some superb examples, and it is immensely thrilling when we make a discovery of this kind.’

Rembrandt (1606-1669), who is renowned as one of the most skilled printmakers in the history of art, made his Portrait of Jan Cornelis Sylvius in 1633, shortly after moving to Amsterdam from his hometown of Leiden. The subject of this lively portrait was a relative of Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642) whom Rembrandt married in the same year. Sylvius became the godfather to the couple’s first child and baptised their daughter Cornelia in 1638, the year he died.

The red impression of the portrait was printed from the so-called ‘second state’ of Rembrandt’s etching plate, when wear (from heavy use) had been repaired by a different hand, after the artist’s death, most likely in the early eighteenth century.

Portrait of Jan Cornelis Silvius will be shown alongside an impression of the same image in black ink, which shows further reworking, and which was probably printed later in the eighteenth century, as the market for Rembrandt etchings continued to flourish. Also on show will be one of the artist’s rare original copper etching plates Beggar Woman Leaning on a Stick of 1646.

The National Galleries of Scotland announces the acquisition of a photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II that goes on display today at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Photographer Julian Calder’s Queen of Scots, Sovereign of The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of The Thistle and Chief of The Chiefs, depicts Her Majesty The Queen standing by the Gelder Burn on the Balmoral estate in Royal Deeside.

The formal portrait, set against a dramatic highland backdrop was made in August 2010 and the photographer was inspired by the work of great Scottish artist, Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), who included evocative landscapes as backgrounds for some of his most memorable paintings. It has been hung in Gallery 7 at the Portrait Gallery with examples of Raeburn’s portraiture.

In this photograph Her Majesty The Queen is presented as Sovereign of The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of The Thistle, a chivalric Order that dates from the seventeenth century. Her Majesty wears the robes of the Order and insignia bearing the emblem of the thistle (the national flower of Scotland) and the cross of Saint Andrew (the patron saint of both the nation and the Order).

This memorable portrait first appeared in a book called Keepers: The Ancient Offices of Britain (2013), by Alastair Bruce, Julian Calder and Mark Cator. This edition of the book was published to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation. The photograph now on show at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery is however the only version of the portrait in a gallery collection.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, commented:

“This unusual and impressive portrait of Her Majesty The Queen is a very welcome addition to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s collection. Her Majesty visited the Gallery in 2012 to formally re-open, following its highly successful re-development, and so it is especially pleasing to be able to show here such a striking and distinctly Scottish portrait, which represents an accomplished and fresh interpretation of traditional imagery.”

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Notes to editors

This work was acquired with the aid of the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland, 2013.

The support of the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland is vital for the work of the galleries; their generosity has made possible the acquisition of over 1,200 individual items, including paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and photography. Additionally, the Patrons provide valuable help with funding for special exhibitions and major projects, such as the recent transformation of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

There will be a photocall with the new acquisition on Thursday 16 January with Julian Calder at the Portrait Gallery on Queen Street.

For further press information and high res images, please contact The National Galleries of Scotland Press Office on 0131 624 6247/ 325/ 332/ 314 or email pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs today announced the appointment of six new Trustees to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland.

The National Galleries of Scotland cares for, develops, researches and displays the national collection of Scottish and international art and, with a lively and innovative programme of activities, exhibitions, education and publications, aims to engage, inform and inspire the broadest possible public.

Alistair Dodds has held senior management positions in the Highland Council over a period of 18 years in HR, Corporate Governance, and was Chief Executive for over six years until August 2013.

He is a former Company Secretary to Eden Court Theatre, Inverness and has a keen personal interest in the arts, having been a Friend of the National Galleries of Scotland for many years.

Mr Dodds has an Economics degree from Edinburgh University, a post graduate Diploma in Personnel Management from Strathclyde University and an MBA (Distinction) from Dundee University.

Edward Green is a specialist in jewellery and antiques. During his 30 years career, he has held the positions of Deputy Chairman of Garrard the Crown Jewellers and Managing Director, Mappin & Webb, and was responsible for taking both companies into Asia. Following that, he was a main board director of Asprey and President of Asprey in the United States.

Mr Green graduated from Strathclyde University with a BA in business and administration (HCM).

Benny Higgins began his career at Standard Life where he qualified as an actuary and progressed to RBS and subsequently HBOS where he was Chief Executive of their Retail Banking divisions. He took the helm at Tesco Bank in 2008 following Tesco’s buyout of the RBS share.

He is a member of the Glasgow Economic Leadership Board and the Commonwealth Games Legacy Board. He is also a non-executive director of Buccleuch Group, a member of the Scottish Government’s Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) and a Princes Trust Ambassador.

Tari Lang is an international advisor to corporations and governments/government bodies providing senior specialist counsel on reputation risk and management, and leadership development. Ms Lang was the Founding Partner of Reputation lnc, a reputation management consultancy in London, Dublin and Dubai and before that, CEO of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide in London.

Ms Lang currently sits on the Board of the National Theatre of Scotland, the Edinburgh International Festival Council and the Nominating Council of Women of the Year.

Professor Nick Pearce holds the Sir John Richmond Chair of Fine Art at the University of Glasgow. Since joining the University in 1998, he has held the position of Head of History of Art and latterly Head of the School of Culture & Creative Arts within the College of Arts. A specialist in the arts of China, his career has straddled both academe and museums, having previously held curatorial positions at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, The Burrell Collection in Glasgow and the Oriental Museum at the University of Durham.

Professor Pearce is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and of the Royal Society of Arts. He is also a Visiting Professor on the Smithsonian Institution’s Masters Program in the History of the Decorative Arts in Washington D.C. and a Trustee of the Textile Conservation Foundation.

Willie Watt is chief executive of Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd. He joined Martin Currie as chief executive in January 2001. Before that, he spent 16 years with 3i Group, latterly as a managing director responsible for the Scottish part of its UK business. He ran specialist venture, buy out and the oil and gas teams.

Martin Currie has developed over the last ten years as a specialist international equities boutique focussing on Global, Asian and Emerging Markets.

Mr Watt received a First-Class Honours degree in Geography from the University of Aberdeen and then went on to complete a 3 year Carnegie research scholarship in Geography and Archaeology.

These appointments are for four years. The appointments of Alistair Dodds, Edward Green, Benny Higgins and Tari Lang will commence on 1st January 2014. The appointments of Nicholas Pearce and Willie Watt will commence on 1st October 2014.

Background

Following these new appointments the National Galleries Of Scotland board will comprise seven men and five women from 1 September 2014.

These appointments are part-time. The time commitment is approximately 6 days per year. These appointments are not remunerated.

These appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.

Other Public Appointments

None of the appointees currently hold any other Public Appointments.

Political Activity

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. None of the appointees have had any political activity in the last five years.

A major exhibition of stunning American Impressionist paintings, an ambitious survey of 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland and a fascinating look at the sport of golf in art are among the highlights of the National Galleries of Scotland’s exhibition programme for 2014, which is announced today. Other key moments in the calendar include the opening of a landmark exhibition of watercolours and drawings by the great nineteenth-century critic and artist John Ruskin; the first exhibition to be devoted to two forgotten stars of mid-twentieth century British painting, the ‘Two Roberts’; and the hanging of Titian’s great mythological paintings Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto in a display which unites them with a third masterpiece from the same series, The Death of Actaeon, on loan from the National Gallery in London. Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting, which opens at the Scottish National Gallery in March will draw on the Gallery’s exceptionally rich collection of sixteenth-century Venetian paintings, drawings and prints to showcase and place in context these three world-renowned canvases.

Also opening in March, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013will be shown at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for the first time. The exhibition brings together the cream of recent portrait photography from around the world, highlighting 60 outstanding entries selected from the 5,000 images submitted to the judges of the prestigious £12,000 prize last year.

American Impressionism, which opens at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art on 19 July, will explore the impact of French Impressionism on American artists working in France and in the US in the period between 1880 and 1900, bringing together some 80 paintings by major international artists such as James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt. A collaboration between the musée des impressionnismes in Giverny, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the National Galleries of Scotland and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, the exhibition runs until 19 October, and will have its only UK showing in Edinburgh.

The National Galleries’ contribution to GENERATION, the nationwide celebration of contemporary art in Scotland which will take in more than 60 venues in 2014, will be shown at both the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Gallery on The Mound, from June until October. More than 30 artists will be represented in this hugely ambitious exhibition – the first to be shown across the two sites - and works made at key moments in the last quarter-century will be shown in parallel with new commissions by both established and promising younger artists. Further details of the GENERATION programme will be announced next year.

This major project will have a high profile during international events like the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup and fittingly The Art of Golf,an exploration of thedepiction of golf in art from the seventeenth century to the present day, will be on show at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in summer 2014. At its heart will be the most celebrated golfing painting in the world, Charles Lees’s nineteenth-century masterpiece The Golfers, but it will also feature around 60 other works which beautifully illustrate the emergence of the sport, particularly in Scotland.

The little-known artworks of John Ruskin, the famous aesthete, art critic and champion of Turner will also be on show at the Portrait Gallery next summer. Ruskin’s watercolours and drawings express his sense of exhilaration as he observed landscape and nature, buildings and artifacts, and his extraordinary skill as a draughtsman, so long overlooked, will be revealed in this landmark exhibition. A collaboration with the National Gallery in Ottowa, the exhibition’s only showing outside Canadawill be at the SNPG.

To mark the centenary of the beginning of World War I, the SNPG will also be showing Remembering the Great War, from August 2014 to July 2015. The display will focus on individuals - including Dr Elsie Inglis, who took a team of Scottish nurses to Serbia and Harry Lauder, who entertained troops at the Front - and how they were affected by the war.

The year will end at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art with the first exhibition to trace the twin careers of Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun, otherwise known as the The Two Roberts, who burned brightly in the post-war London art-world, enjoyed a string of successful exhibitions and whose work was bought by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Following their subsequent lapse into obscurity and early deaths in the 1960s, this exhibition will be a long-overdue re-examination of their work.

Sir John Leighton, Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland said: “In recent years, NGS has offered a dynamic and varied exhibition programme which has attracted national and international acclaim. Next year, as the attention of the world turns to Scotland there are many opportunities to showcase the best of our art and culture. This is why we have conceived what I believe to be a truly exceptional programme, ranging from a survey of contemporary art in Scotland to surprising thematic shows such as the Art of Golf. It is an amazing offer and one which we hope will attract wide audiences at home and from abroad.”

A partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council

The first major retrospective in forty years to showcase the work of J.D. Fergusson opens this weekend, Saturday 7 December. Bringing together well over 100 paintings, sculptures and works on paper by the Scottish Colourist, the exhibition will celebrate the importance of one of the UK’s greatest twentieth-century artists. The outstanding features of the exhibition include examples from the series of extraordinary nudes Fergusson painted in Paris in 1910, two series of landscapes reunited for the first time in almost 100 years, and a significant display of his remarkable sculpture.

This exhibition, featuring works from public and private collections from throughout the UK, is the third and final in a series devoted to the Scottish Colourists, following the hugely successful shows focussing on F.C.B. Cadell and S.J. Peploe.

J.D. Fergusson (1874 – 1961) has the most international reputation and was the longest-lived of the group, which also included G. L. Hunter. His career spanned the birth of modern art in Paris before World War One, to re-vitalising the arts scene in Glasgow after the outbreak of World War Two. Fergusson is the only Colourist to have made sculpture and to have been involved with the performing arts, through his partner the dance pioneer Margaret Morris.

An artist of passion and sensuality, Fergusson is best known for his depictions of women. Paintings of his partners are amongst his most celebrated; these include The White Dress: Portrait of Jean, 1904, a bravura life-size image of Edwardian femininity featuring Jean Maconochie, and Le Manteau Chinois, 1909, a dazzling depiction of female self-possession showing the American artist Anne Estelle Rice. Morris and her pupils provided Fergusson with an endless source of inspiration, resulting in works such as the idyllic Summer 1914, of 1934.

Born in Leith near Edinburgh, Fergusson was essentially self-taught. By 1902 he had his first studio in the Scottish capital and became a familiar figure sketching in the city, as can be seen in Bank of Scotland from Princes Street Gardens, early 1900s. In about 1900, Fergusson met Peploe and from 1904 they spent the summers painting together in France, resulting in works such as Grey Day, Paris-Plage, 1906.

Fergusson’s first solo exhibition was held in London in 1905. He moved to Paris in 1907 where, more than any of his Scottish contemporaries, he assimilated and developed the latest advances in French painting by artists such as Henri Matisse and André Derain. Fergusson’s work changed dramatically, as can be seen in the boldly coloured and designed Hortensia, 1907, and the striking and complex La Bête violette, 1910. A daring series of nudes, including Rhythm and Les Eus, of between 1910 and 1913, are amongst the most original paintings in British art of the period.

In 1913, Fergusson met Morris in Paris; they began a personal and professional relationship which lasted until his death. On the outbreak of World War One, Fergusson moved to London, where Morris was based. Through the Margaret Morris Club, which she ran alongside her dance school and theatre in Chelsea, Fergusson immediately came into contact with the London avant-garde.

Few works by Fergusson survive from the war years. In July 1918, he was granted permission by the Admiralty ‘to go to Portsmouth to gather impressions for painting a picture’. He spent several weeks there sketching and the resultant series of paintings, including Damaged Destroyer and Portsmouth Docks, show Fergusson experimenting with Vorticism. As a result, they are as distinct in style as they are in subject matter within his oeuvre. These works will be seen together in this exhibition for the first time. In addition, an important series of landscapes which Fergusson painted following a motoring tour of the Scottish Highlands in 1922, including A Puff of Smoke near Milngavie, will be shown together for the first time in 90 years.

Fergusson made his first sculpture in Paris in 1908; his last is thought to date from c.1955. This important aspect of his oeuvre is little-known. A special feature of the exhibition will be a display of fifteen sculptures, made in wood, stone, bronze and plaster, including the seminal Eastre of 1924, enigmatic Standing Female Nude and voluptuous Dancing Nude: Effulgence of c.1920.

The 1920s was perhaps the most successful decade of Fergusson’s career. The end of the war meant he and Morris could once again visit France, as symbolised by the joyous Christmas Time in the South of France of 1922, and later in Bathers, Noon, 1937. Fergusson had numerous solo exhibitions, including in Edinburgh, Glasgow, New York and Chicago, and his work was included in important group shows in London and Paris.

In 1929 Fergusson moved back to Paris, but World War Two forced him to leave France for a second time. In 1939, he and Morris settled in Glasgow, which he believed was the most Celtic city in Scotland. ‘Fergus’ and ‘Meg’, as the couple were affectionately known, played a vital part in the renaissance of the arts in the city, including as founder members of the exhibiting and discussions groups the New Art Club in 1940 and the New Scottish Group in 1942. Fergusson developed a distinct late style, which reached its climax in the majestic Danu, Mother of the Gods, 1952. Continued visits to France throughout the 1950s resulted in pictures of beauty and poise, such as Wisteria, Villa Florentine, Golfe-Juan of 1957.

Fergusson died in Glasgow on 30 January 1961. Morris made a huge effort to secure his reputation, establishing, in 1963, the J. D. Fergusson Art Foundation, to look after the works and archival material which she inherited. These were presented to Perth & Kinross Council, who opened The Fergusson Gallery in 1992.

Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Simon Groom, commented: ‘This is the first major retrospective exhibition of the work of J. D. Fergusson to be mounted by the National Galleries of Scotland. We are delighted that, just over fifty years since his death, the international significance of this major Scottish artist is being recognised in a captivating finale to the highly popular Scottish Colourist Series.’

The exhibition is a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh and The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council. Provost of Perth and Kinross Liz Grant, said: ‘J. D. Fergusson’s links with Perthshire are well-known and we are proud to care for an extensive collection of his art and archival material that reflects the breadth of his artistic expression and his fascinating life. I am delighted that we are collaborating with the National Galleries of Scotland on this important retrospective of Fergusson’s work.’

The exhibition is kindly sponsored by Dickson Minto WS, who have shown great generosity in supporting the entire Scottish Colourist Series at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

A lavishly-illustrated publication based on new research accompanies the exhibition.

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For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland's press office on 0131 624 6325 / 6314 / 6247

Doughty Hanson Assistant Curator - The Scottish Colourist Series has been curated by Alice Strang, Senior Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. She has been assisted by Rachel Smith, Doughty Hanson Assistant Curator. This post was made possible by two generous grants from Doughty Hanson & Co., the British private equity firm co-founded by Nigel Doughty, who kindly agreed to this support before his untimely death last year.

The Scottish Colourist Series: J.D. Fergusson – A Seminar - A one-day seminar examining the life and career of J. D. Fergusson, will be held at the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre at the Royal Scottish Academy Building on 20 March 2014. Call 0131 624 6560 for further details.

The J.D. Fergusson Arts Award - Administered by Perth & Kinross Council, the award alternates yearly between an Exhibition Award and a Travel Award, see www.pkc.gov.uk/museums. The 2013 Exhibition Award was won by Debbie Lawson.

The National Galleries of Scotland has acquired The Chalk Cutting, 1898, a major work by the influential Scottish artist Arthur Melville (1855-1904), with generous support from the Art Fund and Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland. The painting was acquired for £72,000 with a grant of £25,000 from the Art Fund.

The Chalk Cutting greatly enhances the holdings within the national collection of paintings associated with the Glasgow School, an important group of artists working in Scotland in the late 19th century. Melville is increasingly recognised as one of the most consistently innovative and significant Scottish painters of this period

Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, commented: “One of the key aims of the National Galleries is to acquire the very best of Scottish art and to show these works in a wider international context. This remarkable painting by Melville demonstrates how Scottish artists at the end of the 19th century could be just as innovative and ambitious as their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. Following on from recent acquisitions by Guthrie and E.A. Walton, the new Melville further strengthens the presentation of the Glasgow Boys and adds a dramatic new note to the displays.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, said: “The Art Fund trustees were struck by the fresh modernity of Melville’s luminous painting The Chalk Cutting. He is one of the most significant Scottish painters of the later nineteenth century, and this quietly radical work will find an ideal home at the Scottish National Gallery. If the reception of its temporary display in May is anything to go by, it will prove an extremely popular and important acquisition.”

Susan Rice, Chairman of the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland, added: “The invaluable support of the Patrons has enabled the Galleries to take on a number of important projects and acquisitions over the years. On behalf of the Patrons, I would like to say how honoured we are that we have been able to play a major part, along with the Art Fund, in securing this particularly significant and striking Scottish work of art for the nation.”

Painted in London in 1898 during the artist’s last decade, this stunning composition reveals Melville to have been the most forward-looking and inventive of all the painters associated with the Glasgow School. By the 1890s he was highly regarded for the technical brilliance of his watercolours, some characterised by a truly exceptional modernity. Although executed on an exhibition-scale canvas, the picture was not shown publicly in the artist’s lifetime, perhaps because of this extreme experimentalism.

The sheer visual power of The Chalk Cutting suggests that it was painted in response to immediate experience rather than from recollection. However, the actual location of Melville’s subject is still unknown. As in many of his late watercolours, his approach to landscape tends towards near-abstraction, revelling in pure colour. Carefully calculated touches subtly add definition – the sign-post on the cliff edge and the tiny human figures at the head of the rail track. But Melville’s essential motif is the dazzling light reflected from the exposed white chalk face, suffusing the whole composition.

Born in Angus and raised in East Lothian, Melville studied art in Edinburgh, finally settling in London after a period in France. The Chalk Cutting remained in the artist’s own collection until his death in 1904. Sold by order of his executors, in Edinburgh, in 1922, it remained in a Scottish collection until 1982. It was bought by the well-known Irish entrepreneur Peter Langan, in 1983, for his celebrated Brasserie in London’s Mayfairandwas part of the celebrated collection of artworks associated with Langan’s Brasserie sold at Christie’s in December 2012.

Since 1999 the Scottish National Gallery has purchased several outstanding works by leading artists connected with the Glasgow School, complementing the great collection held by Glasgow Museums. In 2007, Melville’s pioneering early work, A Cabbage Garden, 1877 (currently on display next to The Chalk Cutting), and E.A. Walton’s A Herd Boy, 1886, were acquired. More recently, in 2012, there was the ground-breaking joint purchase, with Glasgow Museums, of In the Orchard byMelville’s close friend, Sir James Guthrie. These followed the important acquisitions in 1999 of: E.A. Walton’s A Daydream, 1885; David Gauld’s Saint Agnes, 1889-90; and Margaret Helen Sowerby (known as Helen Sowerby), 1882, one of Guthrie’s earliest known portrait commissions.

A complementary display of some of Melville’s most stunning watercolours of Northern Africa and the Middle East is on show at the Scottish National Gallery, allowing visitors to appreciate the wealth of works by Melville now present in the national collection.

ends

Notes to Editors

The Art FundThe Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art, helping museums to buy and show great art for everyone. Over the past 5 years we’ve given over £26m to help museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections and placed hundreds of gifts and bequests, from ancient sculpture and treasure hoards to Old Master paintings and contemporary commissions, with 25% of grants going towards works by living artists. We also help museums share their collections with wider audiences through supporting a range of tours and exhibitions, including the national tour of the ARTIST ROOMS collection and the 2013-2014 tours of Grayson Perry’s tapestries The Vanity of Small Differences and Jeremy Deller’s English Magic, the British Council commission for the 2013 Venice Biennale. Our support for museums extends to the Art Guide app – the comprehensive guide to seeing art across the UK, promoting a network of over 650 museums and galleries throughout the country, and the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year – an annual celebration of the best of UK museums, won in 2013 by William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. We are independently funded, the majority of our income coming from over 100,000 members who, through the National Art Pass, enjoy free entry to over 220 museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions.

Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.Please contact Madeline Adeane, the Press Relations Manager, on 020 7225 4804 or madeane@artfund.org

The Patrons of the National Galleries of ScotlandThe support of the Patrons is vital for the work of the National Galleries of Scotland; their generosity has enabled us to acquire over 1,200 individual items, including paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and photography. Additionally, the Patrons provide valuable help with funding for special exhibitions and major projects, such as the 2004 Playfair Project at the Scottish National gallery and the recent transformation of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2011.

28 November 2013Andy Warhol MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) and sixth national ARTIST ROOMS tour announced

Sixth year of ARTIST ROOMS on Tour - Scottish highlights to include four new venues in the Highlands and Islands and the work of three artists new to the collection. 16 New venues across the UK

It is announced today that an ARTIST ROOMS Warhol MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) has been developed as part of the ARTIST ROOMS research partnership between the University of Edinburgh, Tate, and the National Galleries of Scotland. This is the first art MOOC dedicated to a single artist and the first such course to be developed in a gallery/university partnership in the UK. The MOOC will introduce participants to the life and work of Andy Warhol, exploring his international standing, thematic concerns, creative innovations and examine his relationship to major artistic movements of the 20th century. The course will be delivered collaboratively by staff based in the School of Design at Edinburgh College of Art and the School of Education at the University of Edinburgh.

MOOCs are free online courses delivered from prestigious universities. They are open to all and encourage large-scale interactive participation. The development of this MOOC affords the opportunity for ARTIST ROOMS to do important early work in establishing the impact of MOOCs on gallery learning.

The National Galleries of Scotland and Tate are also delighted to announce plans for the sixth ARTIST ROOMS Tour in 2014. New exhibitions and displays will go on show at 16 venues across the UK. The Tour will include the Isle of Wight, Exeter and Shetland, adding twelve new venues to ARTIST ROOMS on Tour. By the end of 2014, ARTIST ROOMS will have been shown in 66 museums and galleries nationwide and 132 displays and exhibitions will have opened since 2009. ARTIST ROOMS have been seen by 29 million people to date. The tour is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and through the continued support of the Art Fund and, in Scotland, support from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.

Of the six tour venues in Scotland, four will be taking part for the first time (Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland; Shetland Museum and Archive; Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, North Uist; and Caithness Horizons in Thurso). The tour will also feature three artists whose work is a new or recent addition to the collection, being shown in an ARTIST ROOMS display for the first time. The celebrated Turner-Prize-winner Douglas Gordon will be shown at Caithness Horizons in Thurso; Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries will show the work of the American minimalist artist Dan Flavin; and a series of powerful photographs by Don McCullin will be shown simultaneously at the two venues on Shetland. The Douglas Gordon exhibition is also part of Generation, a celebration of 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland, which will be shown at more than 60 venues across the country in 2014.

Across the UK, ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays will also be seen in Bideford, Birmingham, Denbighshire, Dumfries, Exeter, the Isle of Wight, Kilmarnock, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Northumberland, Powys and Preston.

The total number of artists now included in the ARTIST ROOMS collection is 38, six having been added since the project began in 2009: Louise Bourgeois, Martin Creed, Dan Flavin, Douglas Gordon, Don McCullin and August Sander.

The continued and powerful impact of ARTIST ROOMS through the associate institutions across the country has been clearly demonstrated over the past year. Venues have seen record numbers at ARTIST ROOMS displays. Highlights have included the first exhibition of the work of Andy Warhol in Northern Ireland at The MAC in Belfast; Bruce Nauman at York St Mary’s, York’s contemporary art space; Robert Mapplethorpe in Galashiels attracting 50% more visitors in the first month of display; and Martin Creed at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, where the artist gave a performance. The New Art Gallery Walsall saw 235,938 people visit the Damien Hirst exhibition, an 18% increase in visitor figures on the previous year.

ARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments.

To find out more information about ARTIST ROOMS On Tour please visit www.artfund.org/artistrooms. To see the full ARTIST ROOMS collection please visit www.tate.org.uk/artistrooms and www.nationalgalleries.org/artistrooms

Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.uk. The press office can be reached on 020 7225 4888 or media@artfund.org

Notes to editors

ARTIST ROOMSARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays are from the collection assembled by Anthony d’Offay. ARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. ARTIST ROOMS On Tour has been devised to enable this collection to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people.

Arts Council EnglandArts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2010 and 2015, we will invest £1.9 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1.1 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk

The Art FundThe Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art, helping museums to buy and show great art for everyone. Over the past 5 years we’ve given over £26m to help museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections and placed hundreds of gifts and bequests, from ancient sculpture and treasure hoards to Old Master paintings and contemporary commissions. We awarded £1 million towards the original acquisition of the ARTIST ROOMS collection and have been instrumental in ARTIST ROOMS on Tour since its inception in 2009. We are independently funded, the majority of our income coming from over 100,000 members who, through the National Art Pass, enjoy free entry to over 220 museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions.Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.Please contact Madeline Adeane, the Press Relations Manager, on 020 7225 4804 or madeane@artfund.org

Creative ScotlandCreative Scotland is the national organisation that funds and supports the development of Scotland’s arts, screen and creative industries. Creative Scotland has four objectives: to develop and sustain a thriving environment for the arts, screen and creative industries; to support excellence in artistic and creative practice; to improve access to and participation in, arts and creative activity; and to deliver our services efficiently and effectively. In 2013/14 we will distribute over £100m in funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information on Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com. Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland

12 November 2013National Galleries of Scotland Acquires Two Major Sculptures By Dame Barbara Hepworth

NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND ACQUIRES TWO MAJOR SCULPTURES BY DAME BARBARA HEPWORTH.

*PHOTOCALL 12.11.13 11.30am – enter by the East Gate*

Two bronze sculptures, Ascending Form (Gloria) and Rock Form (Porthcurno), by the British sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth have been acquired for the nation by the National Galleries of Scotland through the Government’s Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme.

The works, currently on show at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, will remain in place in the Gardens through a reciprocal arrangement with the National Galleries.

Commenting on the acquisition, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Simon Groom said:

“We are delighted to have secured these two great sculptures by Barbara Hepworth for the collection. They have been on show at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh – the first home of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art – from 1960 to 1984 – for nearly forty years. For all that time they were on loan from the artist's estate; it is wonderful that they can remain here indefinitely. We are indebted to the Acceptance in Lieu procedure, and to the artist's descendants, for making this possible.”

Barbara Hepworth was born in Wakefield in 1903 and became one of the most celebrated sculptors of the twentieth century. Her earlier works were carved in wood and marble, but in the mid-1950s she turned to bronze. Ascending Form (Gloria) 1958, one of her earliest large-scale bronzes, features two diamond shapes, the larger one sitting on top of the smaller one, suggesting growth and upward movement. It has been interpreted as the shape of hands in prayer, a reading reinforced by Hepworth’s renewed spirituality during this period of her life, following the death of her son Paul in 1953. Another cast of Ascending Form (Gloria) is placed at the entrance to the cemetery where Hepworth is buried in St Ives, Cornwall. Visitors to the Botanic Gardens will be familiar with the sculpture which is sited prominently, near to the east entrance from Inverleith Row.

Rock Form (Porthcurno) 1964, by contrast, reflects Hepworth’s on-going interest in the relationship between landscape and human experience. The artist took her inspiration from the rock forms near Porthcurno, a hamlet close to Land’s End, which Hepworth described ‘with its queer caves pierced by the sea.’

The two bronzes have been on permanent display in Edinburgh for nearly forty years. They were placed on loan to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1976, when the Gallery was sited at Inverleith House in the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. The loans were made by Hepworth’s Estate, following the artist’s death in 1975. When the Gallery moved to new, larger premises in Belford Road in the west of Edinburgh in 1984, the bronzes remained in the grounds at the Royal Botanic Garden.

ENDS.

For further information please contact the National Galleries of Scotland’s Press Office on 0131 624 6325/6247/6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

Notes to Editors

Acceptance in Lieu

The Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme allows those who have an inheritance tax bill to gift significant items to the nation and satisfy more tax than by selling items on the open market. This also allows museums and galleries to increase their collections at no cost to them while the donor gets full market value. AIL is a reserved matter but “executive devolution” arrangements are in place to enable Scottish Ministers to deal with cases in which there is a Scottish Interest.

The AIL Scheme brings up to 10 items/collections to the Scottish collections annually. A recent example is a Byzantine hardstone chalcedony bowl and gold and enamelled holder worth £3m which was allocated to National Museums Scotland.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN SCOTLAND TO BE CELEBRATED IN OVER 60 GALLERIES AND VENUES ACROSS THE NATION

The first programme details for a landmark series of exhibitions celebrating 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland have been revealed today (Thursday 7th November). GENERATION will bring an ambitious and extensive programme of works of art by over 100 artists to over 60 galleries, exhibition spaces and venues the length and breadth of the nation between March – November 2014, with the majority of exhibitions taking place over the summer of 2014,as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme.

GENERATION is being delivered through a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Life, and is supported by Creative Scotland. These partners have engaged with a range of associate partners, venues and arts organisations across the country to ensure a truly national reach for the project. The programme aims to shine a spotlight on the past25 years - a period which has seen Scotland develop an international reputation as a distinguished centre for contemporary art, produce a disproportionate amount of award-winning artists, host a number of ground-breaking exhibitions and foster an infrastructure which has helped allow contemporary art to flourish.

GENERATION is part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, which is a partnership between the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee, Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland. Generation has ambitious goals to raise the profile of contemporary art in Scotland and to increase access and participation. It is being produced with the assistance and expertise of partners including VisitScotland and EventScotland, British Council Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland, Education Scotland, Young Scot, Children in Scotland and the BBC.

THE SCALE, AMBITION AND GEOGRAPHICAL REACH OF GENERATION

The scale, ambition and geographicalreach of GENERATION make it the first project of its kind. It will be one of the most ambitious celebrations of contemporary art ever held by a single nation, and aims to reach and build new audiences for contemporary art. The venues involved in the project have programmed their own exhibitions, working with Associate Curator Katrina Brown and a specially convened Curatorial Board comprised of representatives of the partner organisations, to ensure that all the exhibitions share the aspirations of the project.

One central aim of the project is to engage with a new generation and bring to life the possibilities that contemporary visual art presents to young peoplebetween the ages of12 and 25 with an extensive education and outreach programme specifically devised to fuel their imagination and increase their participation. The programme for children and young people is still in development and more details will be announced over the coming months.

KEY MOMENTS AND WORKS CELEBRATED

The wide-ranging programme will highlight the cultural significance of key moments and works from the past 25years, featuring seminal pieces from landmark exhibitions and bringing significant works to new audiences in galleries and exhibition spaces across the nation.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art will host a two-part exhibition across the Scottish National Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One, which will bring together historically significant works from the past 25 years and show them in parallel with new work by both established and emerging artists. Steven Campbell’s landmark On Form & Fiction exhibition, a memorable part of the Third Eye Centre’s programme for Glasgow 1990 which saw the artist cover all the available wall space with a remarkable range of work, will be recreated in the Scottish National Gallery as part of GENERATION. Also being shown in Edinburgh for the first time at Scottish National Gallery will be Martin Boyce’s 2002 Tramway show Our Love is Like the Flowers, the Rain, the Sea and the Hours.

Among the four solo shows being staged at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art are two celebrated works which have been shown to great acclaim in Edinburgh, but never before in Glasgow: Douglas Gordon’sPretty Much Every Film and Video Work from about 1992 until Now (a comprehensive collection of Gordon’s work in film and video, including some of his most celebrated installations such as Play Dead; Real Time, Feature Film, 24 Hour Psycho and 30 Seconds Text) and Nathan Coley’s The Lamp of Sacrifice,286 Places of Worship – a scale model in cardboard of every ‘Place of Worship’ listed in the 2004 edition of the Edinburgh Yellow Pages telephone directory.

Collective Gallery will mark the 20 year anniversary of Ross Sinclair’s Real Lifeprojects, whilst The Fruitmarket Gallery will trace the development of Jim Lambie’s practice, from the sculptures with which he first came to public attention in the early 1990s, to his signature floor work ZOBOP (1999), to Ultra Low through to new work, specially made for the solo exhibition.

Elsewhere in the programme, Paisley Art Gallery & Museum will revisit Information – the significantexhibition staged in 1989 in the Museum by a group of then-emerging artists from Glasgow School of Art including Roddy Buchanan and Jackie Donachie – with a show of work by current Glasgow School of Art MLitt students, who have been invited to respond to the theme of “Information” within the particular context of Paisley Museum.

NEW WORKS AND COMMISSIONS

Although there is an emphasis on existing works, GENERATION will highlight the continued relevance of visual art at local, national and international levels through a number of new works and commissions. Artists exhibiting new works include Claire Barclay, Alex Dordoy, Ciara Philips, Karla Black, Dalziel + Scullion, Alex Frost who is creating a new work for Cove Park’s 50-acre rural site overlooking Loch Long, Mary Redmond, Lorna Macintyre, Sara Barker and Moyna Flannigan.

In line with its international reputation for commissioning, producing and presenting contemporary art, Tramway will present a programme of new works by an array of leading artists including Sophie MacPherson, Charlotte Prodger, Clare Stephenson, Cara Tolmie, Sue Tompkins, Cathy Wilkes, Alan Michael, Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, Charlie Hammond, Iain Hetherington and Alex Pollard.

SPANNING THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF THE COUNTRY

GENERATION will see exhibitions taking place the length and breadth of the country. Participating venues include The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney, which will present a major exhibition of work by Zoë Walker & Neil Bromwich spanning more than 15 years of their practice. Caithness Horizons in Thurso will show the work of Douglas Gordon for the first time in the north of Scotland, whilst a specially curated exhibition of work by Toby Paterson will tour to venues in Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Peebles and Dumfries. Another touring exhibition will be the Travelling Gallery, which will see the work of a group of artists at varying stages of their career and working in a range of media (including Hanna Tuulikki, Craig Coulthard and Laura Aldridge) shown throughout Scotland.

Dalziel + Scullion’s installation Tumadh : Immersionwill be staged in two parts in An Lanntair in Stornoway and Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, whilst venues East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway will present works by some of Scotland’s major contributors to the development of contemporary art in the last 25 years as part of the South By South West (SXSW) partnership.

THE INTERNATIONALISM OF GENERATION

The GENERATION programme also features an array of works produced in Scotland over the past 25 years - many of which have won prestigious international prizes, or have been shown at renowned museums and galleries or festivals across the world - but which have never been shown before in Scotland, offering audiences the opportunity to see them for the very first time.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Gallery will show Simon Starling’s Burn Timeand Graham Fagen’s Peek-A-Jobby and a sculptural installation by Christine Borland, all of which have never been seen in Scotland before.

The Common Guild will host three consecutive solo exhibitions by Corin Sworn, Duncan Campbell and Hayley Tompkins, the artists presented by The Common Guild exhibition Scotland + Venice 2013, a Collateral Event of the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, which received international acclaim.

ARTIST-LED INITIATIVES AND SUPPORTIVE INFRASTRUCTURE

GENERATION will highlight the work of artists and the distinctive infrastructure in place in Scotland that has supported the development of contemporary art over the past 25 years. Support from Creative Scotland (and formerly the Scottish Arts Council) has enabled a range of initiatives and facilities to thrive – from grass-roots and artist run initiatives such as Transmission Gallery (a model which has been adapted the world over) through to production facilities and artists’ studios to major museums and art centres. In the spirit of such artist-led initiatives, Cooper Gallery in Dundee will host Studio Jamming: Artists’ Collaborations in Scotland – the first discursive survey to foreground the grassroots character of artists’ collaboration. Dundee Contemporary Arts will present Continue Without Losing Consciousness - three solo exhibitions by Rob Churm, Raydale Dower and Tony Swain. They’ll reference the artists’ collaboration for the 2010 Glasgow International Festival - Le Drapeau Noir - which was a temporary artists café held at The Old Hairdressers, and will develop their original concept into three new projects built around a core installation and featuring events, concerts and intervention.

Patricia Fleming Projects will celebrate the DIY and lo-fi approach instrumental to the rise of artist-led activity in Glasgow withDISCORDIA, which will feature performance, live music and limited edition t-shirts by twenty contemporary artists involved with Patricia Fleming Projects from the early 90s to the present.

City Art Centre’sUrban/Suburban exhibition is based on work acquired through the National Collecting Scheme for Scotland, the Scottish Arts Council initiative founded to support the sustained development of collections of contemporary visual arts by Scotland’s museums and galleries. Featured artists include Chad McCail and Carol Rhodes.

Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “There is an amazing story to tell about art in Scotland over the past 25 years and we believe that we have found a very compelling way to tell it with what surely must be one of the most ambitious programmes of exhibitions ever mounted by a single country. With over 60 free shows across the entire country, this is a massive opportunity for both residents and visitors to experience world-class contemporary art from Scotland.”

Councillor Archie Graham, the Chair of Glasgow Life, said: “This is a groundbreaking partnership between Glasgow Life and the National Galleries of Scotland, which will allow us to share our outstanding collections, resources and knowledge. GENERATION presents a unique opportunity to galvanize a new audience for the artists and artworks that have propelled both Glasgow and Scotland’s contemporary art onto a global stage.

“Now is the time to tell the story of how Glasgow and Scotland has nurtured such incredible talent and to ensure that communities from Orkney to the Borders can share in what promises to be an amazing show.”

Janet Archer, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with the National Galleries of Scotland, Glasgow Life and venues across Scotland to deliver GENERATION, which celebrates 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland. It provides a unique opportunity to reach more people in more places with the art and ideas of our time. We are particularly excited to be engaging with children and young people. GENERATION features work made in their lifetime. We hope experiencing these extraordinary exhibitions will inspire and fuel their imagination as they journey through their own lives."

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: ”The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme offers a wealth of opportunities for people right across Scotland to get involved in a number of truly inspiring cultural activities, connecting people and communities to the Games, and encouraging them to celebrate culture in new and surprising ways.

“As part of the Cultural Programme, GENERATION is an exciting opportunity to enjoy, celebrate, and learn about our nation’s rich recent history of achievement and excellence in contemporary art.

“The sheer scale and ambition of this project is testament to the large number of talented artists that Scotland has produced over the last quarter of a century.

“I’m pleased that along with once-in-a-lifetime exhibitions there is also a strong focus on engaging and inspiring our young people. I’m positive that the creative legacy of GENERATION will be felt not only across the country but down the years for a long time to come.”

1. GENERATION will feature work by artists who came to attention working in Scotland between 1989 and 2014 and include work by artists born in Scotland, as well artists of other nationalities who studied and live or lived in Scotland.

2. A specially convened Curatorial Board comprised of representatives of the partner organisations along with an Associate Curator, Katrina Brown, has formed the overall shape of the project, its specific manifestation across the partner organisations’ venues and the extension of the programme nation-wide to include many other galleries and organisations across Scotland.

GENERATION, Curatorial Board:

Simon Groom, Director, SNGMA

Sarah Munro, Head of Arts, Glasgow Life

Amanda Catto, Portfolio Manager, Creative Scotland

Katrina Brown, Associate Curator for GENERATION

Keith Hartley, Chief Curator & Deputy Director, SNGMA

Victoria Hollows, Contemporary Arts & Museums Manager, GoMA

Lucy Askew, Senior Curator, SNGMA

Working with Jenny Crowe, Project Manager for GENERATION

3. This is the first ever such national project in Scotland.

Previous exhibitions in Scotland that have offered a view of the contemporary art of their time have included:

‘The Vigorous Imagination: New Scottish Art’

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1987

‘New Art in Scotland’

CCA, 1994

‘Here + Now: Scottish Art 1990-2001’

Dundee Contemporary Arts

McManus Galleries and Generator Projects, Dundee

Aberdeen Art Gallery and Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen

4. Creative Scotland is the national development agency for the arts, screen and creative industries. www.creativescotland.com

5. The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme launched in July 2013 and is a national celebration with two strands: Culture 2014 and Festival 2014.

Culture 2014 is an unprecedented national programme of extraordinary new work by world-leading and emerging Scottish and international artists. It will be intimate and epic, intense and life-affirming. Stories will be told of individual lives and communities, special places and moments in time. These come together in one programme, creating a journey throughout Scotland that frames and celebrates the Games.

Festival 2014 is a massive Games-time celebration in Glasgow running alongside the sporting action, transforming the city from 19 July to 3 August with an invigorating mix of entertainment, culture and enjoyment filling the streets, spaces and stages of Glasgow.

The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme is an opportunity for the whole of Scotland to get involved in the Games. From grassroots celebrations to large scale projects: the aim is for every community in Glasgow and Scotland to celebrate and benefit from this historic event.

The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme is a partnership between the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee, Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland.

A rare, early portrait of a Scottish folk musician, the celebrated eighteenth-century fiddler Patie (or Peter) Birnie, has recently been acquired by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh and is on public display for the first time.

This charming portrait by the Scot William Aikman (1682-1731), who portrayed many of the leading political and literary figures of his day, was probably painted in the period between 1715 and 1720.

A memorable and welcome addition to the Gallery’s collection, it is a significant example of a portrait by a prominent Scottish artist in which the sitter, who is clearly identified, comes from the lower ranks of society, rather than the ruling élite. It complements other renowned portraits of musicians in the collection, such Sir Henry Raeburn’s portrayal of the fiddler Niel Gow, painted in 1787, and also provides a compelling contrast with the Gallery’s other portraits by Aikman, which are primarily of aristocratic subjects.

In the striking and unusual composition the famous musician is shown laughing, and is identified not only by the fiddle he holds, but also by a painted inscription which describes him as ‘The Facetious Peter Birnie / Fidler in Kinghorn’. Although the word ‘facetious’ is generally used in a derogatory sense today, in the eighteenth century it meant ‘gay; chearful [sic]; lively; merry; witty.’ (Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary)

Most of our information about Birnie comes from Allan Ramsay the Elder’s Elegy, published, presumably shortly after Birnie’s death, in 1721, which states that Birnie was present at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679. The Elegy was later used by the Rev. James Granger in his Biographical History (1769):

‘Patie Birnie resided at Kinghorn, on the sea coast, about nine miles north of Edinburgh, where he supported himself by his consummate impudence. Not by honest labour, but by intruding upon every person who came to the public house… He then fell into the utmost familiarity… his… exploits [involved] showing a very particular comicalness in his looks and gestures; laughing and groaning at the same time. He played, sung, and broke in with some queer tale twice or thrice e’er he got through the tune; and his beard was no small addition to the diversion.’

In addition to performing in such a memorable manner, Birnie is reputed to be among the earliest composers of strathspeys (a type of dance in 4/4 time). His fame was such that a number of engravings after Aikman’s painting were made, an example of which is in the Gallery’s collection. The painting was formerly in the collection of the Earls of Rothes, at Leslie House, Fife (where it was recorded in 1839) and was acquired by the Gallery from the London dealer Philip Mould

Speaking of the acquisition, Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said: ‘This is an especially attractive and endearing addition to our eighteenth-century collection: Birnie was a man renowned for his music and vivacious performances and Aikman commemorated him in a wonderfully appropriate, informal and engaging manner.’

The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to announce a remarkable acquisition which brings together two great artists from very different eras. Portrait of Laura Moubray, a fine early work by the English landscape painter John Constable (1776-1837), has entered the National Collection from the estate of the artist Lucian Freud (1922-2011) through the Government’s Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme.

Portrait of Laura Moubray is a fascinating addition to the Scottish National Gallery. Constable is believed to have painted only around 100 portraits during his early career, of which about 50 survive. The painting complements the Galleries’ existing holdings of the artist’s work: the major landscape The Vale of Dedham (1828) and the small, vigorously executed sketch On the Stour (1830).

Just as Constable’s landscape paintings demonstrate a close focus on place and the changing face of nature, so his studies of people encourage an intimate view of an individual and something of their relationship with the artist. It was doubtless these qualities which attracted the celebrated painter Lucian Freud, who was a great admirer of Constable’s portraits: ‘I’ve always thought that it was completely loopy for people to go on about portrait painters, English portrait painters, and not to have Constable among them!’

Freud was renowned as one of the most important and influential artists of the twentieth century. In 2008, his work Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995) fetched the highest price paid for a painting by a living artist. He is represented in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland by a number of key works, which include Two Men (1988), an emotive portrait of two figures in repose.

The Scottish National Gallery was one of Freud’s favourite galleries and provides a fitting context for Portrait of Laura Moubray through its fine collection of English portraits; these include major works by Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Thomas Lawrence. There is also a Scottish connection to the picture through the sitter’s husband, Robert Moubray of Cockairny and Otterston (1774-1848), and Deputy Lieutenant of Fifeshire.

Commenting on the acquisition, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, Michael Clarke, said, ‘We are absolutely thrilled to receive this charming and intriguing picture. Lucian Freud had a very discerning eye and now our public will also be able to appreciate the qualities Freud found in Constable’s rare and unusual portraits.’

ENDS.

Notes to Editors

Acceptance in Lieu

The Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme allows those who have an inheritance tax bill to gift significant items to the nation and satisfy more tax than by selling items on the open market. This also allows museums and galleries to increase their collections at no cost to them while the donor gets full market value. AIL is a reserved matter but “executive devolution” arrangements are in place to enable Scottish Ministers to deal with cases in which there is a Scottish Interest.

The AIL Scheme brings up to 10 items/collections to the Scottish collections annually. A recent example is a Byzantine hardstone chalcedony bowl and gold and enamelled holder worth £3m which was allocated to National Museums Scotland.

New international photography exhibition Viviane Sassen:In and Out of Fashion comes to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Dutch photographerVivianeSassen, one of the most exciting names in contemporary photography, opens the only UK exhibition of her highly distinctive work in Edinburgh this weekend.

The exhibition in the Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery opens with an immersive installation which places the viewer at the centre of the work with a giant mirror reflecting projections around them, and the gallery. The second half of the exhibition showcases Sassen’s fashion photography for fashion houses Carven, Stella McCartney and Miu Miu and series of photographs which are grouped thematically. These include Roxanne, a visual journal of photographs in which the viewer is offered a glimpse of the creative process through the relationship between photographer and muse, and Foreplay, (pictured above,) in which the artist explores the abstract moments before a fashion shoot begins with captivating results.

Annie Lyden, International Photography Curator at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said:

“We are very excited to showcase the work of Viviane Sassen at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this winter. Sassen creates both fashion and fine art photography, but there is no hard distinction between the two when it comes to her vision. Her innovative explorations of the human form, coupled with her bold use of colour create photographs that are equally dynamic and engaging. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to view Sassen’s ground-breaking work through a series of projected images, framed photographs and selections from the artist’s personal archive that come together to create a bold and exciting gallery space”

The artist Viviane Sassen added:

“I'm extremely proud to show my work at the Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, which has such a rich history... The atmosphere is so special!

“Holding my exhibition within the walls of this gallery is very exciting, the clash of cultures so to speak. Fashion pictures deal very much with contemporary popular culture and have a kind of disposable quality – which is very much in the nature of fashion – opposed to the tremendous historical setting of this building and the collection. This juxtaposition helps us to see how contemporary culture is imbedded in the past, as we create new images of our time."

In and Out of Fashion brings together around 35-40 photographic prints and vitrine displays, brimming with notes, plans and magazines, selected by the artist, as well as the specially designed installation, in which 200 images are projected onto a mirror at the beginning of the exhibition.

This exhibition is part of a continuing programme of exhibitions at the Portrait Gallery, including last year’s stunning Jitka Hanzlova retrospective, which aim to capture the style and range of current international photography and share it with audiences in Edinburgh.

In and Out of Fashion, the book charting the last 12 years of Sassen’s career has just been published by Prestel Ltd.

Alexander Stoddart: Making History documents the fascinating process behind the creation of History, a new monumental sculpture recently installed on the exterior of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Made by Alexander Stoddart, who was appointed Sculptor in Ordinary to The Queen in Scotland in 2008, the sculpture is a representation of ‘History’, or Clio, one of the nine muses, the daughters of Zeus, who in Greek mythology inspired learning and the arts.

The new sculpture adorns the apex of the entrance to the Gallery and replaces the original figure of ‘History’ by the sculptor William Birnie Rhind (1853 – 1933) which weathered beyond repair and was later removed.

Stoddart’s new figure is cast in aluminium, stands almost two metres tall and weighs 85 kg. The exhibition explores the technical process employed in creating History through the display of a rich and varied collection of the artist’s preparatory drawings and sculptural studies. These are accompanied by photographs taken in Stoddart’s studio at the University of the West of Scotland, Paisley Campus, and at the Black Isle Bronze foundry in Nairn where the sculpture was cast.

Alexander Stoddart is perhaps best known for his neo-classical sculptures of key proponents of the Scottish Enlightenment which grace some of Edinburgh’s most iconic civic spaces; these include representations of the philosophers David Hume and Adam Smith on The Royal Mile and the physicist James Clerk Maxwell on George Street, a bronze study for which is currently on display at the Portrait Gallery in the Pioneers of Science exhibition.

Commenting on the new exhibition, Director of Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Christopher Baker said, “This wonderful new sculpture is sited serenely above the façade of the Gallery, both making a statement and being entirely sympathetic to its context – one of Scotland’s greatest nineteenth-century buildings. It is the first enrichment of this sort which has been installed on the Gallery since the Victorian period. The related exhibition will illustrate in a compelling manner the extraordinary commitment that Alexander Stoddart made to this high profile commission.”

Alexander Stoddart, said, “This tremendous commission, to complete the sculpture scheme of the Portrait Gallery, gave me the opportunity to pay homage to some of the great late-19th century artists whom I have admired since my earliest days as a sculptor. It has been a weighty honour to have been allowed to work in collaboration with these long-dead men, and a pleasure working with the people at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery who are all alive and thriving in one of the greatest National-Romantic buildings in the British Isles. I should like to thank them all, and to thank my studio assistants in Paisley, and the foundry-workers in Nairn, who worked so diligently with me to achieve this end; a simple little figure, standing where she ought, with the clouds behind her."

2 October 2013The late Scottish artist John Bellany gifted one of his finest paintings to the National Galleries of Scotland earlier this year

Press release 02.10.13 NEW ACQUISITIONS Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 12 October 2013 – 1 March 2014

The internationally renowned Scottish artist John Bellany, who died in August at the age of 71, gifted one of his finest late paintings to the National Galleries of Scotland. The gift was made in recognition of what Bellany called one of the “truly great moments” of his career, the exhibition John Bellany: A Passion for Life which opened at the Scottish National Gallery last year. The artist wrote to the Director and curators at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in spring 2013 and expressed a wish to give his 1992 painting Prague Easter to the collection.

The painting will be on show as part of a new exhibition of works acquired over the last three years, which opens at the Gallery later this month.

Keith Hartley, Chief Curator and Deputy to the Director at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, explained why the work is an exciting addition to the National Collection:

“The work Prague Easter is a significant painting from Bellany’s career. This is a major work from a time when Bellany had recovered from his liver transplant operation and had been given a new lease of life. He was sponsored by the British Council to travel and paint in the newly democratised countries of central Europe – Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany (as the two last countries were then called). This painting shows the famous Charles Bridge that spans the River Vltava in Prague. One of the bridge’s Baroque sculptures depicts the Crucifixion. The crowds thronging the bridge look as if they were actual eye-witnesses of the historical event. But, as the title tells us, it is Easter – a reminder that Christ rose from the dead on that day. Bellany, too, was given a new life by his operation.”

National Galleries of Scotland Director-General John Leighton added:

“This is an extraordinarily generous gift of a truly major work by the late artist; it would be hard to imagine a more appropriate image to commemorate one of Scotland’s most important and best-loved artists. Prague Easter is a monumental picture that places Bellany firmly in a great European tradition of Expressionist art, evoking masters such as Munch or Kokoschka, yet conveying a vision that is highly personal and distinctive. It is an unforgettable piece that will be admired and loved by a grateful public in Scotland.”

The Nation // Live is the culmination of the first major community outreach project for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery since its spectacular three-year refurbishment was completed in 2011. Arranged across five themes - Work, Union, Faith, Civil War and Roots - the exhibition links local heroes, characters and events to the Portrait Gallery collection, and features a range of media including video, music, performance and sculpture.

The themes explore crucial turning points in Scotland’s history and are linked to appropriate regional settings. Encounters between past and present, national and local, have been explored in creative collaborations between artists and communities in Skye, Inverness, Dumfries, Clydebank and other areas in the central belt. The resulting artworks display how contemporary Scots think and feel about their past, present and future.

The projects, which have been organised by the National Galleries of Scotland Education Department, are unified in a contemporary video artwork by the filmmaker Daniel Warren which forms the centre-piece of the exhibition. Included in the video is footage from Clydebank documenting a community-wide, cross-generational discussion, which formed the basis for a voice drama created by writer Martin O’Connor to address the life and legacy of the late trade-union campaigner Jimmy Reid. Also featured is SkyeDance, a group of young dancers from Skye who choreographed their own personal conceptions of faith at sites on the island associated with the Christian mission of Saint Columba.

Music forms a core part of the exhibition through the work of celebrated Scottish folk/electronic musician Drew Wright (aka Wounded Knee) who has created a powerful set of songs fusing Scotland’s folk music heritage and traditional styles from around the world. Wright worked alongside recent migrants to Scotland to create and perform a collection of songs which reflect the experiences of people who have left their homelands to make new lives in this country. The songs are being released on a vinyl LP and a live performance will mark the opening of the exhibition.

Events from the late seventeenth century are explored through a film and photographs created by a group of Dumfriesshire teenagers in response to the bloody ‘Killing Times’ of the Covenanting era. Moving forward in time, the legacy of the 1707 Act of Union is represented by a display of large bronze medals newly forged by contemporary highlanders, including soldiers and students, as representations of their present-day identities.

Commenting on the exhibition, Senior Outreach Officer for the National Galleries of Scotland, Robin Baillie said, ‘The Nation//Live offered ordinary Scots the opportunity to create a “living history”, to assess how the past has made them what they are and to address how this might shape their future. We looked at five moments that made the nation and asked: where has this legacy left Scotland today? We hope we have given a platform to those communities and individuals who don’t normally get to shape the national debate.’

One of the most exciting names in contemporary photography will bring her first retrospective exhibition to Edinburgh this autumn. In and Out of Fashion highlights the work of the hugely acclaimed Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen, and will have its only UK showing at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from 19 October 2013 until 2 February 2014.This exhibition is part of a continuing programme of exhibitions at the Portrait Gallery, including last year’s stunning Jitka Hanzlova retrospective, which aim to capture the style and range of current international photography and share it with audiences in Edinburgh.

Sassen’s highly distinctive work embraces both fine art and fashion. In 2007 she was awarded the Dutch equivalent of the Turner Prize, the Prix de Rome, for her colourful and dreamlike photographs of Africa (where she has worked regularly since 2002), while her campaigns for fashion houses Carven, Stella McCartney, Miu Miu and M-Missoni, and editorial commissions for magazines such as Purple, i-D, Dazed & Confused and Pop have transformed fashion photography in the last decade.

In and Out of Fashion is a survey of the best of Sassen’s work in fashion from 1995 to 2012, bringing together around 50 photographic prints and vitrine displays, brimming with notes, plans and magazines, selected by the artist, as well as a specially designed installation, in which 200 images are projected onto a mirror in the centre of the exhibition.

The first and only showing of this retrospective in the UK will showcase Sassen’s dynamic and daring approach to photography, producing images that explore shape, form and colour in innovative ways. Often obscuring the model’s face and depicting the body as a sculptural form that is explored through abstraction, her photographs are bold and idiosyncratic.

Sassen initially studied fashion design and worked as a model, before studying photography from 1992 to 1997. In both areas of her work Sassen has developed a highly personal signature style: her imagery is challenging, flamboyant, formally inventive and occasionally surreal. In contrast to her art work, however, Sassen’s fashion photography is made in collaboration, working with a large team of stylists, models and make-up artists. For her, fashion photography is like a ‘laboratory’, a domain in which she can work spontaneously and intuitively, assisted by a professional team, to perform an experiment.

Working initially for small, underground style magazines, Sassen found herself liberated from the conventions of more corporate fashion photography, and has continued to explore a very playful approach to the medium. The results are visually astonishing: Sassen’s images are characterised by an expressive use of bold, ultra-bright colour, and her models often ‘melt together’ in contorted, intertwined poses, which make the photographs intriguing, mysterious and difficult to pin down.

In and Out of Fashion will feature the series Nudes: A Journey, which includes selections of early work, made with Emmeline de Mooij, for independent magazines such as Purple and Dazed & Confused, in which the photographs resemble a record of performance art. For the Roxane series, Sassen created 36 portraits of Roxane Danset, the French fashion stylist, which explore a range of styles from the erotic to the surreal and are indicative of the collaborative nature of her work.

Alongside key images from Sassen’s recent work for TheNew York Times Magazine, Self Service, Acne, Levi’s, Diesel and Louis Vuitton will be another major body of work, Foreplay, in which the artist explores, in a series of almost abstract images, the moments before a fashion shoot begins, offering a fascinating insight into the spontaneous, creative way in which her vision emerges.

In and Out of Fashion is Sassen's first retrospective and comes to the Portrait Gallery from Huis Marseille Museum, Amsterdam. A recently published overview of Sassen’s fashion work, also titled In and Out of Fashion,with essays by Nanda van den Berg and Charlotte Cotton, accompanies the exhibition, published by Prestel.

In and Out of Fashionis shown in the Robert Mapplethorpe Gallery in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.Named after the renowned American photographer, the Gallery is supported by a very generous donation from The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. This is being used over three years to produce innovative displays, exhibitions and research. Recent exhibitions have included Edith Tudor-Hart: In the Shadow of Tyranny, Jitka Hanzlová and Man Ray Portraits. The Gallery is the first purpose-built photography space of its kind in a major museum in Scotland.

ENDS.

Notes to Editors

The exhibition Press View will be on Friday 18 October 2013, 11:30 – 13:00 h. Viviane Sassen will be available for interview. For preview or interview requests please contact the National Galleries of Scotland Press Office pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org 0131 624 6 332/314/325 Very high res images from In and Out of Fashion are available on request.

Press Photo Opportunity A photo call is taking place at the Gallery on Thursday 17 October from 11.30 – 12.30 pm.

Celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of Allan Ramsay, one of Scotland’s most important artists, this exhibition of around 30 beautiful drawings from the Scottish National Gallery’s unrivalled holdings will include some of his earliest known works. The son of the distinguished poet of the same name, Allan Ramsay (1713 – 1784) became internationally renowned for his outstanding portraits of royalty and Enlightenment figures, several of which hang prominently in both the Scottish National Gallery and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Born in Edinburgh, Ramsay received his first artistic training at the city’s Academy of St Luke. His father then raised funds to send him to Rome, where he studied at the French Academy and drew alongside emergent artists such as Pompeo Batoni. On his return to the UK, Ramsay based himself in London but kept a studio in Edinburgh. Through the influence of John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Ramsay was introduced to the Prince of Wales and on the latter’s accession to the throne as King George III, became the king’s painter – the highest honour to which a British artist could aspire. Ramsay produced hundreds of drawings across his career, working largely in red or black chalks, heightened with white, on differing shades and colours of paper. Whether highly finished works in their own right, sketches made in training or preparatory studies for larger compositions, they demonstrate the incredible drawing and modeling skills which underpin the artist’s painted portraits and offer a glimpse of personal aspects of his life. The National Galleries of Scotland’s collection of drawings by Ramsay represents the largest holding of the artist's graphic oeuvre worldwide.

Commenting on the exhibition, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, Michael Clarke, said ‘Ramsay was one of the most cultured and able of all Scotland’s great artists, as this selection of his drawings and watercolours reveals. Because he was primarily known as a portrait painter, he is sometimes not given the recognition he richly deserves. His refined style drew on British and Continental traditions (particularly those of France and Italy) and he was an artist of European stature.’

One exhibition highlight will be a series of drawings which relate to Ramsay’s painting Queen Charlotte with her two Eldest Sons (c. 1764-9), now in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. An idealised study of the head and shoulders of Prince George, dating from 1764-65, in black chalk heightened with white on blue paper, is presented alongside two impressive compositional studies. Perhaps more than the resulting painting, the drawings combine the grand trappings of late Baroque Court portraiture with the tender portrayal of an intimate family group. Another royal subject, which shows Ramsay’s extraordinary use of line and precision, is a detailed study for the crown that appears resting on the table in Ramsay's portrait King George III in Coronation Robes (1763), a version of which can be seen at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Several drawings going on display were made during visits Ramsay made to Italy from 1736 - 38, 1754 - 57 and 1775 - 77. It was during the second visit that the artist developed the elegant drawing-style which characterizes the preparatory chalk studies he made following his return to London. While in Italy Ramsay also made drawings of the countryside around Rome; a number of studies of the Colosseum; practiced drawing from life, and made many studies after the Old Masters.

A sketchbook dating from c. 1730 - 1731 is one of the earliest surviving examples of the artist’s work. It contains drawings from his early studies at the Academy of St Luke. Other very early works on display include a self-portrait and a portrait of his father, both made when Ramsay was only twenty years old. These will be complemented by a simple, intimate study of the artist’s daughter Amelia Ramsay (later Lady Campbell) made in 1776 when she was twenty-one. Created three years after an accident in which Ramsay permanently damaged his painting arm, this drawing was composed on the Isle of Ischia off the coast of Naples, which Ramsay visited so that he could treat his arm in the famous curative baths.

Also on display will be a beautiful red chalk drawing of a lady's hand holding a Rose, made as a study for what is possibly Ramsay’s most famous painting, a portrait of his second wife, Margaret Lindsay (currently displayed at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery) which shows the exceptional delicacy of Ramsay’s mature style.

The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to announce that Anne Lyden, formerly Associate Curator of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, has been appointed the new International Photography Curator at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

During her tenure at the Getty, Ms. Lyden was responsible for the vast collection of 19th century British material and many of her projects have been based on these holdings, including the exhibitions Light in the Darkness: The Photographs of Hill and Adamson (1999), The Old Order and the New: P.H. Emerson and Photography, 1885-1895 (2007), and A Record of Emotion: The Photographs of Frederick H. Evans (2010). She has also curated major exhibitions of photographs from the 20th and 21st centuries, such as Three Roads Taken: The Photographs of Paul Strand (2005), and Narrative Interventions in Photography (2011), featuring the work of three contemporary artists: Eileen Cowin, Simryn Gill, and Carrie Mae Weems.

Ms. Lyden has written extensively on photography. Her notable publications include: Railroad Vision: Photography, Travel, and Perception (2003) and The Photographs of Frederick H. Evans (2010). Ms. Lyden is a graduate of the University of Glasgow, where she studied the History of Art, and the University of Leicester, where she completed her post-graduate degree in Museum Studies. In her 18 years at the Getty, she engaged in collaborations with institutions and photographers from around the world. In joining the National Galleries of Scotland, Ms. Lyden will bring her expertise and enthusiasm for photography, while continuing to foster international connections.

In a statement Ms. Lyden said, “I am delighted to join the National Galleries of Scotland and to begin working with such a rich and engaging collection of photographs. The strength of the holdings, from the early history of photography to contemporary, together with the representation of Scottish art and that from around the world, excites me.”

Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery Christopher Baker said, “Photography forms a vital and high profile part of the collections and exhibitions at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and we are delighted that we are to be joined by such an experienced and knowledgeable curator as Anne Lyden, who will play a key role in furthering our ambitions in this area.”

Most recently, Ms. Lyden has been preparing the exhibition A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography, which will open in Los Angeles in February 2014. She begins her role at the National Galleries of Scotland today, Monday 2 September 2013.

20 August 2013National Galleries of Scotland announce Summer 2014 exhibition of portraits by John Byrne

A new Scottish National Portrait Gallery exhibition set for summer 2014, will present a broad range of portraiture from across John Byrne’s career. The exhibition is the first on this scale to honour the Scottish painter’s work and contribution to Scottish art, at the Portrait Gallery on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Works from the gallery’s collection to be prominently featured include Tilda Swinton, b. 1960, Pastel on paper, Robbie Coltrane b.1950, Oil on board, and the much loved self-portrait of John Byrne b.1940, Oil on block-board which currently hangs in the Portrait Gallery café.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said:

'We are delighted to be working closely with John Byrne on this exciting project for next summer which will bring together around 50 key works, from drawings to large-scale paintings. John is a great friend of the Portrait Gallery, and we are sure this show will be a huge draw for both fans of John’s artwork, and those who know him in one of his many other artistic guises'

This week John Byrne joins us at the Portrait Gallery for a special In Conversationsessionwith AL Kennedy, as part of the National Galleries’ By Night series, and our first foray into live comedy events at the festival fringe. Byrne’s celebrated painting of Billy Connolly is one of the highlights of the current exhibition of Scotland’s comedy greats Tickling Jock, and the Paisley-born artist also provides the backdrop for the Portrait Gallery Comedy Café, where his self-portrait takes pride of place behind the stage.

John Byrne and AL Kennedy the Dundee-born writer, novelist and comic, will be chatting about their personal favourites among Scotland’s comedy greats – as well as discussing Byrne’s own work on his iconic portraits of figures such as Robbie Coltrane and Tilda Swinton in the Gallery’s world-famous collection.

Tickling Jock: By Night is at the Portrait Gallery on Wednesday 21 August (door open at 6.15 pm) with stand-up from the best of the Fest 2013, comedy tours of Tickling Jock led by The Stand regular Susan Morrison and a tribute to the legendary Chic Murray performed by Glasgow comedian Scott Agnew.

ENDS.

Notes to Editors

For images of works and Tickling Jock: By Night at the Portrait Gallery please contact the National Galleries of Scotland pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org 0131 625 6314/247/223.

More information on the 2014 exhibition will be announced in the lead-up to the event.

Exhibition full title to be confirmed.

John Byrne is featured in BBC Four documentary, What Do Artists Do All Day on Thursday 22 August 2013.

There will be a concurrent exhibition of John Byrne’s work at Bourne Fine Art Edinburgh Summer 2014.

John Byrne works in the National Galleries Collection – high res photography available.

John Byrne b.1940, Oil on block-board, Gifted by Scottish arts council in 1997

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery announces the line-up for two special events at the gallery during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The events, which turn the neo-gothic sandstone Edinburgh landmark into a comedy club, will have three separate performance spaces for each two-hour after-work event. The events have been inspired by the Scottish comedy greats exhibition, Tickling Jock, currently on show at the Portrait Gallery.

Susan Calman and Forbes Masson are confirmed as the headline In Conversation With for Wednesday August 7. Calman, the Glasgow based comic known for regular appearances on BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz and QI, is also appearing this year at the Stand Comedy Club with new solo show Always (A Work In Progress). Forbes Masson takes time out from his hectic West End theatre schedule for a one-off appearance at the 2013 Festival Fringe with the National Galleries. Masson, famed as one half of Victor & Barry with Alan Cumming, will be chatting with Susan Calman about the Scottish comedy greats that inspired him, and reminiscing about childhood visits to the theatre to see Rikki Fulton and Jack Milroy’s Francie & Josie. The In Conversation With will take place under the starry sky of our Great Hall after Des Clarke and Scott Agnew perform a special Francie & Josie tribute. This is a unique opportunity to see two Scottish performers at the top of their game chatting about their comedy icons.

The Comedy Café will feature over an hour of stand-up from the best on the festival 2013 including ‘the best kept secret on the fringe’ John Robins, Stewart Lee’s alternative comedy pick and Scot David Kay, the fringe’s favourite Frenchman Marcel Lu Cont and Benny the Human Jukebox whose 90s pop megamix on the melodica has over 2million hits on youtube.

Writer and comic AL Kennedy will join us on 21st August to talk about her Scottish comedy greats from Ivor Cutler to Billy Connolly, In Conversation With artist and playwrightJohn Byrne; expect a lively discourse and an entertaining half hour from the two great scots. In the Comedy Café, Edinburgh’s Jo Caulfield,introduces a line-up including Sally-Anne Hayward, Markus Birdman and Simon Munnery. Scott Agnew returns to By Night to perform as Chic Murray.

On both nights in the Tickling Jock exhibition space Susan Morrison will be reprising parts of her Edinburgh History Festival comedy lecture Giggling Jock.

More acts for both evenings will be announced in the lead up to the events on the National Galleries official twitter and facebook pages.

Ends.

Notes to editors.

Tickets are available from edfringe.com from and from the information desk at the Scottish National Gallery on the Mound or by calling 0131 624 6560.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopened in December 2011 after a £17.6 million refurbishment and uses portraiture from the sixteenth century to contemporary practice to plot the history of Scottish achievement and life. Works by Sir Henry Raeburn and Allan Ramsay together with Alexander Nasmyth’s iconic portrait of Robert Burns sit alongside today’s Scottish greats. Recent exhibitions have included Leading Lights Portraits by KK Dundas which featured portraits of Royal Conservatoire graduates, including Alan Cumming, Greg McHugh and Ruby Wax, all of whom have performed at the Edinburgh festivals.

Tickling Jock: By Night is part of the late night events series at the National Galleries of Scotland. For more information on the By Night events – go to nationalgalleries.org/bynight.

An exhibition of powerful new paintings by Ken Currie, one of Scotland’s most outstanding artists, goes on public view for the first time at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Widely admired for his intense and provocative work, Currie responds in his display to the idea of the portrait, its origins and purposes, and its continued significance. The exhibition features 11 paintings, all but one of which has been created for the Gallery’s exhibition.

Born in Glasgow in 1960, Currie graduated from the city’s School of Art in the early 1980s. Associated with The New Glasgow Boys group, Currie was launched on to the Scottish Art scene by the landmark 1987 exhibition The Vigorous Imagination at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. While the group had no common agenda, its members shared a commitment to the creation of figurative art, and in doing so demonstrated that painting remained a powerful and relevant means of visual expression.

Already represented in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery collection by his haunting painting Three Oncologists (2002) and searing self-portrait Unfamiliar Reflection (2006) (the latter of which is included in this exhibition), Currie has long been fascinated by portraiture. He does not consider himself to be a portrait painter, but his paintings have often engaged with the tradition and can be seen to carry traces of works by artists who have practised the form, from Old Masters such as Velásquez, Goya and David to modern painters, Munch, Magritte and Bacon.

Currie’s recent engagement with portraiture is suggested by a recurring motif in several of the new works: the death mask. These objects can give a powerful impression of what a person looked like, yet their very existence is reliant on death. This duality is explored in the central painting of the new exhibition, Night Work, which invites the viewer to witness the making of a death mask by two potentially benign or sinister figures.

Currie’s new work meditates on the idea that a portrait can only be a simulation of what a person once looked like at a particular time. In Imago, for example, a man is seen standing next to his portrait. The painting on the easel shows an apparently more vital version of the subject, whose features are now eroding. Another work, Bath House, presents a lone figure standing up to his waist in murky water, his head bent as if transfixed by the distorted reflection of his own appearance; this is a parody of the story of the mythical Narcissus, who was enamoured with his own beautiful reflection.

Commenting on the exhibition Ken Currie said, 'I am delighted to be exhibiting at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, my first solo exhibition in Scotland in over ten years. Since completing my first commission for the Portrait Gallery in 2001, I have come to engage in a prolonged exploration of the nature of the painted portrait that has culminated in this new body of paintings, made specifically for the Gallery's contemporary space. The paintings will hopefully provide a compelling and thought-provoking dialogue with aspects of the Portrait Gallery's collection and point to the continuing relevance of painted portraits as deeply poignant human documents.'

Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Christopher Baker, said, ‘We are delighted to host this exhibition during Edinburgh’s festival season and are most grateful to Ken Currie for his commitment to the project. His work prompts powerful responses as he deals with difficult themes in figurative paintings which are carefully considered and painstakingly executed. Three Oncologists, his triple portrait of eminent cancer specialists, has become something of an emblem for the Portrait Gallery. This new exhibition further develops his relationship with the Gallery and represents a rich and thoughtful response to its historic collection.'

The Contemporary Art Society is delighted to announce the shortlisted museums and their nominated artists in line to receive this year’s Contemporary Art Society Annual Award for Museums. These are:

* Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in partnership with the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art with artist Elizabeth Price

* Birmingham Museums with artist Jess Flood-Paddock

* The Hepworth Wakefield with artist Des Hughes

* Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art with artist Lucy McKenzie

Now in its fifth year, the prestigious £60,000 prize is one of the highest value contemporary art awards in the country, and is awarded to a UK museum to commission an artist of their choice to create a new work that will enrich their permanent collection. The award also provides support and exposure for the winning artist at a critical point in their career.

The shortlisted museums with their nominated artists will now create a full proposal for their new commissions, to be considered by the 2013 judging panel. The judging panel for the 2013 award includes a mix of leading names in the field of contemporary art and comprises: Brian Griffiths (artist),Charlotte Higgins (Chief Arts Writer, The Guardian),Elizabeth Neilson (Director, Zabludowicz Collection), andKirsty Ogg (Curator, Whitechapel Gallery).

The winners of the £60,000 prize will be announced in an award ceremony in London on 18 November 2013, in the presence of artists, curators, collectors and art world VIPs. The presenter of the award will be announced shortly; previous presenters have included Grayson Perry, Cornelia Parkerand Jeremy Deller.

Sophia Bardsley, Deputy Director, Contemporary Art Society, said:

“We are delighted to have received such a large volume of applications this year, and the quality of proposals has been exceptionally high. After some debate, the 2013 panel was eventually unanimous in their selection of this year’s stand-out shortlist. The museums will now begin to

work with their nominated artists to better visualise their proposed commissions and the ways in which these commissions will enrich and enliven their collections, for the benefit of public audiences now and in the future. The Contemporary Art Society Annual Award is a lifeline to the winning museum to acquire an important new work that will put their contemporary collection more firmly on the contemporary art map – both regionally and across the UK – whilst the winning artist gains the opportunity to develop their work and ideas alongside a team of curators and museum professionals, which is often a new experience for them. The award offers the artist the chance to expand their practice to potentially take their work in a new direction.”

Elizabeth Neilson, Director, Zabludowicz Collection, said:

“It was a challenge to select four proposals when every one of the applications should be seen through to completion. This cannot be understood in terms of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ but rather a process to select the right proposal for this award. I expect the next stage of selection to be even harder.”

The Contemporary Art Society is a national charity that encourages an appreciation and understanding of contemporary art in the UK. With the help of our members and supporters we raise funds to purchase works by new artists which we give to museums and public galleries where they are enjoyed by a national audience; we broker significant and rare works of art by important artists of the twentieth century for public collections through our networks of patrons and private collectors; we establish relationships to commission artworks and promote contemporary art in public spaces; and we devise programmes of displays, artist talks and educational events. Since 1910 we have donated over 8,000 works to museums and public galleries – from Bacon, Freud, Hepworth and Moore in their day through to the influential artists of our own times – championing new talent, supporting curators, and encouraging philanthropy and collecting in the UK.www.contemporaryartsociety.org

Current and forthcoming displays at Contemporary Art Society, 59 Central Street: David Hockney 5 JUNE – 16 AUGUST PROJECT 03: Data 5 JULY – 27 SEPTEMBER John Stezaker 4 SEPTEMBER – 4 OCTOBER Pop Flavours: The Eric & Jean Cass Gift 16 OCTOBER – 22 NOVEMBER Laure Prouvost 4 DECEMBER – 17 JANUARY

2. ABOUT CONTEMPORARY ART SOCIETY ANNUAL AWARD FOR MUSEUMS

One of the highest value contemporary art prizes in the country, the Contemporary Art Society Annual Award for Museums supports a UK-based museum or public gallery to work with an artist of their choice to commission a new work that, once completed, will remain within the museum’s permanent collection.

The £60,000 prize has a major impact on both the winning museum and their chosen artist: for the winning museum, the award allows the acquisition of an ambitious work of contemporary art of national importance, and for the winning artist (who may be showing widely nationally and

internationally but whose work is not represented in collections in this country), the award is a stepping stone to greater visibility and provides access to national and international audiences.

Applications are welcomed from museums that have not yet commissioned new work as well as from those with more experience. The award is open to all museums in the Contemporary Art Society’s Museums Membership network and artists anywhere in the world. Museums must be able to commit at least £5,000 towards the development of a publication or catalogue, and £1000 is made available to all short-listed museums to work up the detailed proposal including the artist’s time and contribution.

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in partnership with the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art with artist Elizabeth Price Turner Prize winner Elizabeth Price is an artist who uses images, text and music to explore archives and collections. While her work is informed by mainstream cinema and experimental film, it is mostly concerned with the medium of digital video and its comparative ubiquity in today’s culture. Exploring the archives and collections of the university’s museums, focusing especially on the Ashmolean Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museums (The Pitt Rivers cares for Oxford’s holdings of anthropology and world archaeology), the commission would enable the artist to make a new film that discloses the different taxonomic systems that have been employed by and shaped the two institutions.

Birmingham Museums with artist Jess Flood-Paddock Rooted in sculpture, Jess Flood-Paddock’s work focuses on the emotional dimension of objects and what that can tell us about human interaction. Also employing photography, video and scenic painting, her work is often realised on a large-scale in ‘un-monumental’ materials (e.g. plywood, paper and fabric). Drawing on Birmingham Museum’s Collection Centre, which consists of over 500,000 objects dating from the Palaeolithic era 200,000 years ago to the present, the commission offers the artist a unique starting point for her research and encourages a new direction for the artist whose practice until now has been entirely studio-based. The Museum’s Collections Centre in Birmingham will act as her expanded studio and enable a new and wider repertoire of information and engagement.

The Hepworth Wakefield with artist Des Hughes Using contradictory or unconventional materials, Des Hughes’ sculptures often go through a series of processes that subvert the objects’ statuses to offer a richer understanding of their purpose and materiality. Exploring the Wakefield Permanent Art Collection and archival material relating to Henry Moore as part of his initial archive research, Des Hughes will focus on the recent removal of Henry Moor’s bronze sculpture, Draped Reclining Figure (1979) from public display in Castleford as an unlikely alternative route into exploring the work of Henry Moore and British Modernism.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art with artist Lucy McKenzie Lucy McKenzie is a Glasgow-born artist whose singular approach to painting draws on hugely varied sources and art histories. The artists’ on-going interest in and use of traditional techniques would allow for meaningful connections to be made with the historical holdings and extensive

archive of the Scottish National Gallery. The commission would become the first of the artist’s works to enter a public collection within Scotland.

4. ABOUT THE 2013 JUDGING PANEL

BRIAN GRIFFITHS (ARTIST AND TUTOR, ROYAL ACADEMY SCHOOLS) Since graduating from Goldsmiths College in the late 1990s, Brian Griffiths has been making sculpture and installations of overblown theatricality and pathos. His work has been exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally. He has had solo shows at Camden Arts Centre, Arnolfini, A Foundation, Vilma Gold, Galeria Luisa Strina and internationally has shown work at numerous museums including Tate Britain, The Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, The Mattress Factory Museum in Pittsburgh, CAPC museum in Bordeaux, Mostra D’Arte Contemporanea in Milan and Belém Museum of Modern Art, Brazil. He was recently shortlisted for the Fourth Plinth commission and was included in British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet. A monograph on the artist, Brian Griffiths: Crummy Love, was published by Koenig In 2011. He is presently Senior Tutor at the Royal Academy Schools, London.

CHARLOTTE HIGGINS (CHIEF ARTS WRITER, THE GUARDIAN) Charlotte Higgins is the chief arts writer at The Guardian. She contributes to The Guardian‘s news, features, op-ed, literary and arts sections, and writes the Charlotte Higgins on Cultureblog. Charlotte began her career in journalism on Voguemagazine in 1995 and moved to The Guardian in 1997. She joined the arts desk in 1999, and the following year became classical music editor. In 2004 Charlotte moved to The Guardian‘s newsroom to become arts correspondent, reporting from the UK as well as overseas, including Venezuela, China and the Palestinian Territories. Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Charlotte has a degree in classics from Oxford. She is the author of Latin Love Lessons, and It’s All Greek to Me (both published by Short Books) and her third, Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain, was published in 2013 by Jonathan Cape. She won the 2010 Classical Association prize. Charlotte is a keen amateur violinist and chamber musician.

ELIZABETH NEILSON (DIRECTOR, ZABLUDOWICZ COLLECTION) Since joining the Zabludowicz Collection in January 2006, Elizabeth has overseen the strategy, acquisitions and the direction of the Collection. She is also responsible for the exhibition programme and residencies in all locations. She completed an MA in Curating from Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2005 and a BA in Art History and Women’s Studies from The University of East London in 2003. Founded in 1994 by Poju and Anita Zabludowicz, the Zabludowicz Collection is a dynamic and growing collection spanning four decades of art, from the 1970s to today, and exhibits in venues in the UK, USA and Finland. The Collection actively creates new opportunities for audiences to engage with emerging art, and supports arts organisations and artists around the world. Its activities are shaped by an ethos of philanthropy and a commitment to engaging with local contexts and communities.

KIRSTY OGG (CURATOR, WHITECHAPEL GALLERY) Since May 2009, Kirsty Ogg has been Curator at Whitechapel Gallery, London, where her projects have included Claire Barclay’s Bloomberg Commission, a survey of Gerard Byrne’s work, Karl Blossfeldt’s photography and The London Open. Between 1998 – 2008 she was the Director of The Showroom, London. During her time at The Showroom, Kirsty worked with artists including Jim Lambie, Claire Barclay, Eva Rothschild, Subodh Gupta, Richard Hughes and Daria Martin on the development and presentation of their first solo shows in London. After graduating from the Sculpture Department at Edinburgh College of Art in 1990, Kirsty was a member of the organizing committee at Transmission, 1993 – 1996. She then went on to work at Norwich Gallery at Norwich School of Art & Design. Kirsty is currently a lecturer on the MA Curating Course at Goldsmiths.

15 July 2013Unique Glasgow / Edinburgh partnership bears fruit: ‘Glasgow Boys’ masterpiece In The Orchard on show following joint acquisition

A masterpiece of Scottish art, which has been secured for the public in a unique partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and Glasgow City Council, has gone on display in Edinburgh today.

In the Orchard, a major work by Sir James Guthrie (1859-1930), which is the first painting to be jointly owned by the two institutions, was acquired at auction in November 2012 for £636,500, with generous assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) and the Art Fund.

This outstanding painting, which was one of the stars of Glasgow Museums’ hugely successful 2010 exhibition Pioneering Painters: The Glasgow Boys, will be on show at the Scottish National Gallery until the end of the year, before being shown at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. It will be shared equally by the NGS and Glasgow Museums, and exhibited at the two institutions alternately.

Helping to launch the new display today were Michael Clarke, Director, Scottish National Gallery; Ellen McAdam, Head of Museums and Collections, Glasgow Life; and Sarah Philp, Head of Programmes, the Art Fund.

Commenting, Michael Clarke said: ‘The NGS has made a number of important acquisitions with sister institutions over the last 20 years, but this collaboration with Glasgow is unprecedented, and wholly appropriate given the significance of this iconic painting to the story of Scottish art. Since 1999 we have been fortunate in securing a number of key paintings by the Glasgow Boys, and acquiring In the Orchard with Glasgow Museums will enhance our displays of their work still further, complementing the great collection held in Glasgow.’

Councillor Archie Graham, the Chair of Glasgow Life and Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: ‘This work was one of the star attractions at our record-breaking Glasgow Boys exhibition and we’re delighted that it has been secured for both city and nation through this unique partnership. Kelvingrove is home to one of the finest collections of Glasgow Boys works and we look forward to this outstanding Guthrie’s return in due course.

Born in Greenock, James Guthrie was a leading member of the Glasgow Boys, a loose-knit group of young, radical painters who began working together in the early 1880s. The members of the group, which included E A Walton, George Henry and John Lavery, shared broad artistic ideals of naturalism and a desire to challenge the perceived supremacy of the art establishment in Edinburgh.

In the Orchard was painted in the mid-1880s, a time of renewed creativity and intensive self-reinvention for Guthrie. Out of a crisis, when he almost abandoned a career in art, he emerged with one of the most complex and experimental paintings to have been made by any of the ‘Boys’.

Guthrie started work on In the Orchard in 1885, at the Berwickshire village of Cockburnspath, where he had been working in the open air with Walton. The painting, which shows two children gathering apples, was Guthrie’s most challenging figure composition and took almost two years to complete.

Subverting convention, Guthrie used a very large canvas (measuring 152.5 x 178 cm), a format normally reserved for grand history painting and highly unusual for such simple, rural subject matter. Moving away from the naturalism of his early masterpiece A Hind’s Daughter (which was painted in 1883, and is also in the Scottish National Gallery’s collection), Guthrie was developing a fascination with decorative pattern-making through deftly distributed touches of vibrant colour.

Following its unveiling in Glasgow in 1887, alongside Lavery’s Tennis Party (Aberdeen Art Gallery) and Walton’s A Day Dream (Scottish National Gallery), In the Orchard enjoyed early international fame. The painting was shown at the Paris Salon of 1889 before being included in a group of Glasgow Boys works selected for the International Exhibition in Munich in 1890, which upstaged submissions by many of the European avant-garde. Following this sensational European debut for the Glasgow Boys, In the Orchard returned to Germany for a Berlin exhibition of 1893.

Recognised as ‘one of the most important works by Glasgow artists’ on its unveiling, In the Orchard proved to be a seminal work in the development of painting in Scotland. The acquisition by Glasgow Museums and the NGS is a fitting recognition of its special place in the history of Scottish art.

Three exceptional Glasgow Boys paintings – A Daydream by Walton; Guthrie’s Miss Sowerby (1882); and David Gauld’s St. Agnes (1889-90) – were acquired by the Scottish National Gallery in 1999 with the generous assistance of The Art Fund. These were followed by two more acquisitions of first-rank works, again assisted by The Art Fund of Walton’s The Herd Boy (1886) and A Cabbage Garden (1877) by Arthur Melville, in 2007.

National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF)

The National Heritage Memorial Fund was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of our national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It will receive £20million Government grant in aid between 2011-15 allowing for an annual budget of £4m-5m. www.nhmf.org.uk.

James Guthrie’s In the Orchard joins a diverse range of over 1,200 iconic objects and places which have been safeguarded by the NHMF to the tune of over £300million. These include:

The Coenwulf Coin

Stepney Armorial Dinner Service

The Grade I listed medieval hall house, Llwyn Celyn in Monmouthshire

William Dyce’s famous painting Welsh Landscape with Two Women Knitting

The Milton Keynes Pot of Gold

The Stirlingshire Hoard

The Mary Rose

The Flying Scotsman

The last surviving World War II destroyer, HMS Cavalier

The archive of the Viscounts Melville

The last surviving World War II motorboats, HSL 102 and MGB 81

The Ward Estate within Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Skokholm Island, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Pembrokeshire.

The Art Fundis the national fundraising charity, helping museums to buy and show great art. Over the past 5 years we’ve given over £26m to help museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections and placed hundreds of gifts and bequests, from ancient sculpture and treasure hoards to Old Master paintings and contemporary commissions. We also help museums share their collections with wider audiences through supporting a range of tours and exhibitions, including the national tour of the Artist Rooms collection and the 2013-2014 tours of Grayson Perry’s tapestries The Vanity of Small Differences and Jeremy Deller’s English Magic, the British Council commission for the 2013 Venice Biennale. Our support for museums extends to the Art Guide app – the comprehensive guide to seeing art across the UK, promoting a network of over 650 museums and galleries throughout the country, and the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year – an annual celebration of the best of UK museums, won in 2013 by William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. We are independently funded, the majority of our income coming from over 100,000 members who, through the National Art Pass, enjoy free entry to over 220 hundred museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions.

Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.

A stunning exhibition of photographs, which provides a dazzling record of some of the most highly charged and exciting periods in twentieth-century art and fashion will feature in Man Ray Portraits, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s major summer show for 2013.

Man Ray Portraits features some of the most celebrated images in the history of photography and allows visitors to glimpse the world of creativity and glamour that Man Ray, a leader of the Surrealist movement, inhabited.

Man Ray is widely considered to be one of the most innovative and influential artists of the last century, renowned for his remarkable creativity and experimentation across a range of media, including photography, film, printmaking, painting and sculpture. This is the first major museum retrospective in the UK to focus on his use of photography to make defining portraits of his contemporaries, in the period between 1916 and 1968.

Baillie Gifford Senior Partner, Sarah Whitley, commented: ‘Baillie Gifford is the proud sponsor of Man Ray Portraits, a major retrospective of the artist’s work and one of the highlights of the 2013 Edinburgh Art Festival. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery has a long tradition of bringing iconic artworks to the city and this exhibition is eagerly anticipated.”

Showcasing over 100 works, drawn from major international museums and private collections across the world, the exhibition charts Man Ray’s career from early photographs, taken before he left New York for France in 1921, to those made in his final post-war years in Paris.

The significance of magazines and periodicals in establishing Man Ray’s name and reputation is demonstrated by the inclusion of a number of the vintage titles in which his work was first reproduced. The insight these provide is especially valuable, as some portraits which would otherwise have been lost in the chaos of World War II now appear only as reproductions in periodicals.

Man Ray’s most prolific period was spent at the centre of the avant-garde and literary circles of 1920s and 1930s Paris. Working for high-style magazines such as Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, and more specialised art journals such as Minotaure and Littérature,he created memorable portraits of the era’s major figures, as well as personal and often intimate portraits of friends, lovers and his social circle. The exhibition includes striking images of Marcel Duchamp, André Breton, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Erik Satie, Henri Matisse, Igor Stravinsky, Salvador Dalí, Virginia Woolf and Aldous Huxley.

Man Ray Portraits also brings together iconic portraits of Man Ray’s lover Lee Miller, who worked as his assistant before establishing her own remarkable career as a photographer, and Kiki de Montparnasse, whom he immortalised in the image known as Noire et Blanche, in which Kiki’s pale, sleeping face rests on a tabletop beside a carved ebony African mask. His last muse, his wife, Juliet, whom he met in 1940, is a frequent subject in Man Ray’s later work, and appears here in a number of images which capture the glamour of the artist’s years in Hollywood, between 1940 and 1950.

Born Michael Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia, Man Ray (1890–1976) spent his early life in New York, turning down a scholarship to study architecture in order to devote himself to painting. He initially taught himself photography in order to reproduce his works of art but in 1920 began to work as a portrait photographer to fund his work in other media. In 1915, whilst at Ridgefield artist colony in New Jersey, he met the French artist Marcel Duchamp and together they tried to establish a New York outpost of the Dada movement. His friendship with Duchamp led to Man Ray’s move to Paris in 1921, where, as a contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, he was perfectly placed to make defining images of his contemporaries from the avant-garde.

In this period Man Ray was instrumental in developing and producing a type of photogram (an image made by placing objects directly onto the surface of light-sensitive paper and then exposing it to light) which he called ‘Rayographs’, and is credited with inventing, alongside Lee Miller, the process of solarisation, which partially reverses the light and dark tones in an image and creates a seemingly glowing profile around the subject. The use of solarisation can be seen in the portraits of Elsa Schiaparelli, Lee Miller, Suzy Solidor and his own Self-Portrait with Camera included in the exhibition.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Man Ray left France for the US and took up residence in Hollywood. Although officially devoting himself once more to painting, new research has revealed Man Ray made a number of significant photographic portraits during his Hollywood years, and several are shown for the first time in this exhibition. Film star subjects he portrayed include Ruth Ford, Paulette Goddard, Ava Gardner, Tilly Losch and Dolores del Rio.

Returning to Paris in 1951 Man Ray once again made the city his home, remaining there until his death in 1976. His portraits from the 1950s include experiments with colour photography such as his portraits of Juliette Greco and Yves Montand and the exhibition closes with his outstanding portrait of film star Catherine Deneuve from 1968.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, commented: ‘We are delighted to be hosting this major international exhibition which explores in depth the arresting and witty portraiture of one of the world’s greatest photographers. Man Ray allows us to taste the culture of Paris in the 1920s and Hollywood in the 1940s – an intoxicating combination.’

EXHIBITION TOURMan Ray Portraits will tour to the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow from 28 October 2013 - 19 January 2014.

PUBLICATIONA fully-illustrated 224 page catalogue, Man Ray Portraits, accompanies the exhibition. The catalogue includes an introductory essay by Marina Warner, Professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex, and a writer of fiction, criticism and history, and an extensive illustrated chronology by Helen Trompeteler, Assistant Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery. Price £35 (hardback) / £25 (paperback).

The Scottish showing of Man Ray Portraits has been generously sponsored by Baillie Gifford & Co.

The company currently employs over 760 people and has assets under management and advice of over £93 billion as at 31 March 2013. An asset management firm founded in 1908, it is headquartered in Edinburgh where most of its staff live and work. Globally, Baillie Gifford manages investments on behalf of pension funds, financial institutions, charities and retail investors. Baillie Gifford plays an active role in the community by supporting projects in the areas of education, social inclusion, and the arts.

Baillie Gifford & Co has sponsored the following National Galleries of Scotland exhibitions: Phoebe Anna Traquair 1852-1936 (1993); Sir James Gunn 1893-1964 (1995); David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa (1996); George Rodger: The African Photographs (1996); The Winter Queen: The Life of Elizabeth of Bohemia 1596-1662 (1998); Turner & Sir Walter Scott: The Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland (2000); Andrew Geddes (1783-1844): Painter - Printmaker: 'A Man of Pure Taste' (2001); The King Over the Water: The Life of Prince James Francis Edward Stewart (2001); Rubens: Drawing on Italy (2002); Below Stairs: 400 Years of Servants’ Portraits (2004); Gauguin’s Vision (2005); Impressionism and Scotland (2008); and Elizabeth Blackadder (2011).

Man Ray Portraits is shown in the Robert Mapplethorpe Gallery in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.Named after the renowned American photographer, the Gallery is supported by a very generous donation from The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. This is being used over three years to produce innovative displays, exhibitions and research. Recent exhibitions have included Edith Tudor-Hart: In the Shadow of Tyranny and Jitka Hanzlová. The Gallery is the first purpose-built photography space of its kind in a major museum in Scotland.

A magnificent Dutch flower painting by Jan van Huysum (1682-1749) has been acquired for the nation by the National Galleries of Scotland through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme. It is the first Dutch flower still life to enter the Scottish National Gallery’s collection. The tax settlement value of the painting is £2.45million.

The painting is the first work by this artist to enter the National collection. Indeed, no painting from this period of van Huysum’s career is in any Scottish public collection.

Commenting on the acquisition, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, Michael Clarke said, 'Van Huysum was an absolute master of the art of flower painting in 18th-century Holland. Expensive flowers had been imported into Holland from the seventeenth century onwards and there was a great demand from the affluent merchant classes for paintings which depicted these exotic blooms. The hyper-realism and technical sophistication of many of these flower paintings is incredible. This is a really major example, and we are delighted to have been allocated it through the government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme.'

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop said, 'The Acceptance in Lieu scheme allows the Scottish Government to acquire important works of art on behalf of our national collections. With up to 10 items allocated to Scotland each year, it is an excellent way to enrich the range of internationally renowned paintings and artefacts that are available for everyone in Scotland to enjoy. I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to allocate the Jan van Huysum painting to the National Galleries of Scotland. It’s an important and valuable acquisition and one which I hope gives great joy to the Galleries’ many thousands of visitors.'

Jan van Huysum is regarded as the most important painter of flower still lifes of his time and received prestigious commissions from royalty and aristocracy throughout Europe. This painting belongs to a small group of works from Van Huysum’s transitional period when he began to introduce more light into his dark compositions, eventually leading to his bright flower paintings with landscape backgrounds. This particular painting is his largest and most ambitious on copper, a support he used only occasionally.

ENDS.

Notes to Editors

Acceptance in Lieu

The Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme allows a deceased person’s estate to gift significant items to the nation and satisfy more tax than by selling items on the open market. This also allows the nation to acquire important works of art at favourable prices. AIL is a reserved matter but “executive devolution” arrangements are in place to enable Scottish Ministers to deal with cases in which there is a Scottish Interest.

The AIL Scheme brings up to 10 items/collections to the Scottish collections annually. A recent example is a Byzantine hardstone chalcedony bowl and gold and enamelled holder worth £3m which was allocated to National Museums Scotland.

Today (5 June 2013), the National Galleries of Scotland is launching its Gaelic Language Plan for 2013-18. The five-year plan has been developed in line with the requirements of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 and supports delivery of the National Gaelic Language Plan 2012-17. It received formal approval from Bòrd na Gàidhlig on 5 March 2013.

National Galleries of Scotland is the latest in a growing list of Scottish public bodies to produce Gaelic language plans, joining National Museums Scotland, City of Edinburgh Council, Visit Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland, amongst others.

Public consultation on the first draft was carried out in early 2011. The final version takes into account the responses received during the consultation.

National Galleries of Scotland’s plan sets out the organisation’s commitment to promote and support the Gaelic language and details the action that will be taken to develop the use of Gaelic in its functions.

Key commitments outlined in the NGS Gaelic Language Plan include:

Building on current Gaelic language provision in the public programme of exhibitions and displays, as well as education activity and publications

Introducing Gaelic awareness training for staff and encouraging staff to learn and use Gaelic

Considering implications for the Gaelic language when developing policy

Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: ‘The National Galleries of Scotland are pleased to launch our Gaelic Language Plan for 2013-18. We believe the actions in our plan will ensure we meet the needs of Gaelic speakers by enabling those with Gaelic to engage with us in their chosen language. We aim to raise awareness of the language, heritage and culture of Gaelic within the context of our work as the keepers of the national art collection and we hope to encourage others, including employees, to explore and learn the language.’

National Galleries of Scotland’s Gaelic Language Plan can be viewed online at nationalgalleries.org. Hard copies are available on request by phoning 0131 624 6473.

One of the greatest masterpieces of British art, Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831, has been secured for the British public through major grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund (£15.8 million), the Art Fund (£1 million), a very substantial donation from The Manton Foundation, and Tate Members.

The acquisition is part of a ground-breaking new partnership, called Aspire, between five national and regional galleries: Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales; the National Galleries of Scotland; Colchester and Ipswich Museums; Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum; and Tate Britain. The partnership will enable the work, owned by Tate, to go on almost constant view in partner venues across the UK. From today it will go on view in the Constable room at Tate Britain until the end of the year before being shown at the five national and regional galleries participating in the programme.

The work has been acquired for the special price of £23.1 million with tax concessions, equivalent to an open market sale of £40 million. The acquisition has been made possible through the most generous collaboration of the children of the late Lord Ashton of Hyde and purchased through the London fine art agents Robert Holden Ltd. The painting had previously been on view at The National Gallery on long-term loan since 1983.

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows is one of a series of monumental ‘six-footer’ canvases painted by the artist. This was the scale he reserved for his finest compositions, the painting she wished to make a great impact in the crowded, competitive hang of the Royal Academy exhibitions. This work is the most visually spectacular of all the ‘six footers’, the most loaded in meaning and the one of which he was most proud. Constable called it ‘The Great Salisbury’ and wrote “I am told I got it to look better than anything I have yet done”.

Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate said: “Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows is one of the great masterpieces of British art. I am extremely grateful to the owners who have worked with us while we have raised the funds to ensure the painting remains in the UK. I would also like to thank the National Gallery for their support and the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Manton Foundation, the Art Fund and Tate Members who have recognised the importance of this work and that it should enter the national collection. Through the innovative Aspire programme the work will now be widely accessible across Britain.”

Jenny Abramsky, Chair, Heritage Lottery Fund said: “HLF is proud to be a major funder of this masterpiece. Our investment of over £15 million is substantial but reflects the fact that these moments – those that give us the chance to save such a precious and quintessentially British heritage icon – come along very rarely. It is unimaginable that this particular painting might have ended up anywhere other than in a UK public collection. Constable was truly a man of the people who believed that art was for everyone and not the select few and it is very fitting that the innovative approach of the Aspire project will ensure that many more people around the country will get to see and enjoy Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows than ever before. That’s really something to celebrate.”

Sandra Niles of The Manton Foundation said: “The Trustees of the Manton Foundation were unanimous in their support of this effort to secure this extraordinary painting for many generations of audiences to enjoy. We hope that our grant is a way of recognising the lifelong interest and philanthropy of my grandparents, Sir Edwin and Lady Manton.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director, the Art Fund, said: “Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows is a British icon. Now, thanks to a funding partnership between the Art Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund and The Manton Foundation, it is entering the nation’s permanent collection and will be shown in many museums across the UK through an innovative sharing arrangement. It's a great pleasure to have helped Tate and its four partner museums make this happen.”

Adrian Green, Director, Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum said: “The Aspire partners are delighted that the funding has been secured to save Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows for the nation. The Aspire programme will ensure that the painting will reach as wide an audience as possible, particularly through a range of imaginative events at each of the partner venues. At Salisbury Museum the opportunity to see the painting and then ‘step out into the canvas’ will be an unforgettable experience.”

The Aspire programme is a partnership between five UK institutions, all of which will organise special public programmes highlighting the painting. It will be seen in exhibitions and displays which include the partner venues’ existing collections and reflect the individual context of each site. After the initial five year period all the partners will continue to have special access to the painting for their exhibitions, while ensuring that this extraordinary work is lent to other institutions so that it can be enjoyed by a wide public.

Each display will be complemented by an education programme which encourages audiences to learn more about this painting and the work of John Constable. The project will establish a national network for Constable Studies to promote exchange and create new opportunities for training and skills development with a particular focus on developing new audiences for heritage through traineeships and the provision of education materials for schools, teachers and families.

An image of the painting and colouring sheet, along with other related activities will be available online on Tate Kids (kids.tate.org.uk). They will allow children to explore the painting in closer detail.

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows depicts Salisbury Cathedral under both a heavy cloud and a striking arched rainbow from across the River Avon. The scene has been interpreted as a metaphor for pressure felt by the Church of England from its diminished political importance. The painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition in 1831 and later in a regional exhibition in Birmingham as directed by Constable, who wanted the work to be seen by as many people as possible.

The UK holds seven of the twelve large-scale works Constable exhibited, and five of the thirteen full-size sketches that he made for these. This work was one of two which were privately owned. There are three pairings of sketch and finished painting in Britain. Securing this work for the UK has now added a fourth pairing. The full-size sketch for Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows is held by the Guildhall Art Gallery, London.

The order of displays in the Aspire programme is as follows: National Museum Cardiff,2014; Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, Colchester & Ipswich Museums, 2015; Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, 2016; National Galleries of Scotland, 2017; Tate Britain,2018.

Sir Edwin Manton (1909 - 2005) was born in England and moved to New York in 1933.Sir Edwin was a collector of paintings by John Constable and his contemporaries, and a generous benefactor to the arts, the church and medicine. His collection, which is now at The Sterling and Francine Clark Institute in Williamstown, also includes works by Gainsborough, Rowlandson and Turner. He was knighted in 1994 for charitable services to the arts. Prior to this exceptional grant to the acquisition of Constable's Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, the Manton Foundation most recently contributed the lead donation to the Tate Britain Millbank Project.

17 May 2013Twenty-five years of contemporary art in Scotland to be celebrated in landmark nationwide exhibition

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN SCOTLAND TO BE CELEBRATED IN LANDMARK NATIONWIDE EXHIBITION

A landmark exhibition celebrating some of the very best art to have emerged from Scotland in the last 25 years is announced today (Thursday 16 May). GENERATION will see new and existing work shown at more than 50 venues across the country from June to October 2014. This nationwide programme will be one of the most ambitious celebrations of contemporary art ever held by a single country.

GENERATION has been developed as a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Life, supported by Creative Scotland.

It will include major exhibitions of work at all of the National Galleries of Scotland sites in Edinburgh and Glasgow Life run venues Tramway and Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Glasgow. An Associates programme will see a diverse and exciting range of work shown in a wide array of venues, from Orkney to the Western Isles to the Borders.

Coinciding with Glasgow’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games in the summer of 2014, GENERATION aims to reinforce Scotland’s position as an international centre for the visual arts, and to make contemporary art more accessible and relevant to as wide a range of people as possible. In addition to the exhibitions of artists’ work, GENERATION will include an ambitious public engagement and events programme taking place across the country. There will be a particular focus on involving young people to inspire them to become the artists and audiences of the future. GENERATION will feature world class works by artists whose practice has been shaped and developed in Scotland over the past 25 years and who have received international recognition within that time including artists David Shrigley, Ross Sinclair, Lorna MacIntyre, Toby Paterson and Cathy Wilkes. Details of the full exhibition programme and featured artists are being confirmed and will be announced later in the year.

GENERATION will trace the remarkable development of contemporary art in Scotland over the last 25 years, act as a spring-board for new work to be created, and offer unique opportunities to enjoy work by some of Scotland’s most engaging and imaginative artists.

Ben Thomson, Chairman of the National Galleries of Scotland said "Scotland has produced some great internationally acclaimed contemporary art, not only from Scottish artists but also from artists working and training here from all over the world. GENERATION is a celebration of this Scottish success story where some of our best art over the last 25 years will be displayed in some 50 galleries across the Nation during the summer of 2014. It will enable visitors to enjoy for free this generation of artists in depth at a time when there will be considerable international focus on Scotland. GENERATION joins the forces of Glasgow Life, Creative Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland to highlight our cultural success and provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our artists as well as to inspire audiences for years to come."

Councillor Archie Graham, the Chair of Glasgow Life, said: “This is a unique partnership which will bring together, for the first time, the unique talents and works which have propelled both Glasgow and Scotland’s contemporary art onto a global stage.

“The city enjoys international recognition as a thriving centre for the production and hosting of contemporary visual arts and has been home to a significant number of Turner Prize nominees and winners in recent years.

“Now is the time to tell the story of how Glasgow and Scotland has nurtured such incredible talent and to ensure that communities from Orkney to the Borders can share in what promises to be an amazing show.”

Iain Munro, Acting CEO, Creative Scotland said: “GENERATION is a significant opportunity for people across Scotland to experience the imagination and excitement of some of the best contemporary art to have been produced here over the last twenty-five years. “If you think contemporary art is not for you, I’d urge you to give GENERATION a try. It’s home grown work which is admired and enjoyed across the world. “GENERATION is also about the future, about inspiring young people to want to play their part in the next twenty-five years of contemporary art in Scotland.”

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, said: “Scotland has an excellent record for producing visual art that is inspiring, thought-provoking and which prompts international acclaim. GENERATION will be an ambitious, national celebration which will see museums and galleries all over the country come together to showcase the very best of Scottish contemporary art; making it accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

“At a time when the world’s spotlight will be firmly on Scotland as we host major international events like the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup, GENERATION will celebrate Scotland’s visual art and artists and promote our rich culture and cutting edge creativity to audiences at home and from around the globe.”

The full exhibition programme and featured artists for GENERATION will be announced in Autumn 2013.

1. GENERATION will feature work by artists who came to attention working in Scotland between 1989 and 2014 and include work by artists born in Scotland, as well artists of other nationalities who studied and live or lived in Scotland. 2. A specially convened Curatorial Board comprised of representatives of the partner organsiations along with an Associate Curator, Katrina Brown, has formed the overall shape of the project, its specific manifestation across the partner organisations’ venues and the extension of the programme nation-wide to include many other galleries and organisations across Scotland. GENERATION, Curatorial Board: Simon Groom, Director, SNGMA Sarah Munro, Head of Arts, Glasgow Life Amanda Catto, Portfolio Manager, Creative Scotland Katrina Brown, Associate Curator for GENERATION Keith Hartley, Chief Curator & Deputy Director, SNGMA Victoria Hollows, Contemporary Arts & Museums Manager, GoMA Lucy Askew, Senior Curator, SNGMA Working with Jenny Crowe, Project Manager for GENERATIO 3. This is the first ever such national project in Scotland. Previous exhibitions in Scotland that have offered a view of the contemporary art of their time have included: ‘The Vigorous Imagination: New Scottish Art’ Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1987 ‘New Art in Scotland’ CCA, 1994 ‘Here + Now: Scottish Art 1990-2001’ Dundee Contemporary Arts McManus Galleries and Generator Projects, Dundee Aberdeen Art Gallery and Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen 4. Creative Scotland is the national development agency for the arts, screen and creative industries. www.creativescotland.com

The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to announce a major exhibition of the work of Peter Doig (b. Edinburgh 1959) at the Scottish National Gallery this summer. Peter Doig is one of the most highly regarded and internationally-renowned painters working today. This will be the first major exhibition of his work to be shown in the country of his birth.

Peter Doig, commented:'I left Scotland as a child as many of my generation did; however I know Edinburgh, the city where I was born, through many visits as a child and youth. To be able to exhibit my paintings in the magnificent rooms of the National Galleries is a great great honour.'

This important international exhibition is a collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts in Montréal. Surveying Doig’s paintings and works on paper of the past 10 years, this exhibition places particular emphasis on the artist's approach to serial motifs and recurring imagery. Formally spare yet monumental in scale, at times approaching the exotic in their subject matter, these works show Doig working at the height of his extraordinary powers.

Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art said: 'Peter Doig has been one of the most consistently inventive and seductive painters working anywhere in the world today. His art is figurative and often based on photographic images, but the end effect is to take us into a completely different world of often hallucinatory power. The works reveal a transforming vision of the world, steeped in a sense of beauty and mystery, rich in their imaginative suggestion yet remaining grounded in the real.'

Doig first came to prominence in the 1990s with his paintings of winter landscapes, highly atmospheric scenes of lakes (often with a lone canoe), and houses screened by trees and ski slopes. The rich and layered surfaces of his paintings showed that Doig was as much interested in abstract, formal qualities as he was in subject matter.

Over the period covered by this exhibition Doig has split his time between a house and studio in Trinidad, a studio in London and a professorship at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. His peripatetic life, memories of a childhood partly spent in Canada and his later life and studies in London have given him a particularly rich visual knowledge. Regardless of where Doig’s motifs originate, his experiences cross-fertilize and enhance his works. As fellow Scot Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in The Silverado Squatters: There are no foreign lands. It is the traveller only who is foreign. Doig the traveller is not merely a foreigner seeking out the exotic; rather, he is like Baudelaire’s flâneur, whose eye uncovers and finds significance in details which transcend locale, while spanning both time and space.

Throughout a career of three decades, Doig has reinvigorated a medium considered by many to have fallen into irrelevance. His inventive style, uncommonly sensuous palette and suggestive imagery set him apart from the conceptualism dominating much of contemporary art. Doig’s willingness to take up the challenges posed by the work of Gauguin, Matisse, Bonnard, Marsden Hartley and Edward Hopper places him in an ongoing dialogue with a long line of great artists.

Following its debut in Edinburgh, No Foreign Lands: Peter Doig, travels to Canada, where it will be shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montréal and curated by Stéphane Aquin. The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue featuring essays by Keith Hartley, Chief Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Stéphane Aquin, Curator of Contemporary Art in Montréal; and an interview with the artist conducted by Hilton Als, a New York-based critic, author and regular contributor to the New Yorker magazine.

THROUGH AMERICAN EYES: FREDERIC CHURCH AND THE LANDSCAPE OIL SKETCH11 May 2013 – 8 September 2013Scottish National Gallery, The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2ELAdmission free

The major exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery this summer will celebrate the work of one of the greatest of all American landscape painters. Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch will bring together 25 works by an artist who revelled in the grandeur of the natural world, and whose dramatic paintings of far-flung locations from Newfoundland to the Middle East made him extremely popular in Europe as well as the USA.

Frederic Church (1826-1900) rose to fame as a member of the Hudson River School, a group of American painters who started that country’s great tradition of landscape painting. However, it was the artist’s travels in search of stirring subjects and appetite for new experiences that defined his output.

Working in the outdoors, in front of the spectacular settings that inspired him, Church painted rapid sketches in oil paint which often served as studies for large-scale paintings, but whose freshness and spontaneity make them remarkable in their own right.

Though Church was a prolific and hugely accomplished master of this technique, and practised it throughout his life, this is the first exhibition in Europe to explore this aspect of his work. It features works such as Storm in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica, 1865 and Königssee, Bavaria, 1868, which perfectly illustrate Church’s skill in combining dramatic compositions with beautifully observed light effects. Other works, such as Popacatépetl and Ixtaccíhuatl at Sunset, c.1884-5; Ed Deir, Petra, Jordan, 1868; and The Iceberg, which was painted in the waters off Labrador around 1875, are a testament to Church's adventurous and pioneering spirit and the ambitious scope of his vision.

The exhibition will also include paintings such as Winter Twilight from Olana,c.1871-72, and Sunrise (The Rising Sun), 1862, which were executed close to Church’s home in Hudson, New York State, with its with magnificent views of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains.

To illustrate the relationship of Church's oil sketches to his finished studio canvases, the exhibition will also include the greatest American landscape painting in Europe, Niagara Falls, from the American Side, 1867, from the Scottish National Gallery's own collection. This breathtakingly detailed masterpiece, with its vertiginous viewpoint above the cascading waters, created a sensation when it was shown in London in 1868, and helps to illustrate the significance of Church’s achievement: in a time before National Geographic and Sir David Attenborough, when the art of photography was still in its infancy, Church’s paintings of the Arctic, South America, Europe and the Middle East brought to the great crowds that came to see them the visual wonders of the world beyond their reach.

Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch is organised by The National Gallery, London, in partnership with and through major support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional support comes from The Olana Partnership and generous loans from Olana and Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

9 April 2013Massive Bronze Sculptures by Surrealist Master Installed at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Two extraordinary sculptures by the great Surrealist artist Joan Miró (1893-1983) have been placed on long loan to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. The massive bronze sculptures, the tallest of which measures ten feet in height, have been generously lent by the Miró Estate in Spain. Femme [Woman],1970 and Personnage [Figure], 1978 were installed today on the lawn in front of the Gallery, where they will remain for up to five years.

Miró was born in Barcelona in 1893. He first visited Paris in 1920 and settled there the following year, establishing contacts with artists including his fellow Spaniard Pablo Picasso. His interest in poetry and dream imagery brought him close to the artists who would launch the Surrealist movement in 1924. Inspired by dreams, psychoanalysis and the unconscious, the Surrealists sought to go ‘beyond realism’ – the literal definition of Surrealism. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art owns a world-famous collection of Surrealist art, which includes four paintings by Miró, all dating from this early Surrealist period.

Miró is perhaps best known as a painter, but he also made a remarkable body of sculptures. He first sculptures date from the early 1930s, when he began assembling together items that he had found by chance: these included objects as various and unlikely as a coat stand, an umbrella, bed-springs and a stuffed parrot. The majority of Miró’s sculptures date from the 1960s and 1970s, and were cast in bronze. They generally began as ordinary objects he had found or bought, and then had enlarged. Femme [Woman] of 1970 is based on a perfume bottle, which by the addition of spindly arms and a massive leaf shape (Miró’s shorthand for the female sex) he transformed into a woman. The spray nozzle at the top now reads as an eye. Personnage [Figure] of 1978 is based on a bar of soap sitting on a perforated soap dish. Placed in a vertical, standing position and given two ‘eyes’, it now assumes the appearance of a head.

Miró’s works are witty and playful and have an extraordinary lightness of touch, but they also count as some of the most impressive monumental sculptures of the twentieth century. Countless others have tried to emulate his apparently casual, easy approach to assembled sculpture, but none has succeeded.

These two works featured in the major exhibition of Miró sculpture recently held at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) near Wakefield. Thanks to the YSP, the Miró Estate has very generously agreed to lend the two bronzes to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art for a five-year period.

Joan Punyet Miró, the artist’s grandson remarked: ‘I'm extremely happy to have these two sculptures created by my grandfather in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern. Art. I'm sure he'd have been thrilled by this project.’

Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, stated: ‘Our Gallery is internationally renowned for its major collection of Surrealist art – but until now we have not been able to show any major Surrealist work outdoors. We are deeply indebted to the Miró Estate and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for enabling us to exhibit these extraordinary works.’

Ever wondered how art from paintings to sculpture, from modern art to the classics, can knit together? Ever pondered a link between Picasso, Botticelli and Martin Creed? Then get collecting with the new free app for art from the National Galleries of Scotland.

ArtHunter is a free multi-platform mobile app for the intrepid cultural visitor. Created in association with one of the UK’s leading mobile app development companies, Kotikan, ArtHunter will allow visitors to build their own art collection at the touch of a button. The new app will send art fans on a voyage of discovery, opening up our Galleries to reveal little-known masterpieces as well as capturing old favourites. The app will grow over 2013 to include artworks and artefacts from galleries and museums across Scotland.

ArtHunter works on a simple premise: every month a new themed collection will link artworks that will be available to ‘hunt’ around the Galleries. Each work found will give the user a special code they can use to unlock unique content – this will vary from facts related to the work or artist, hidden details, music clips and specially commissioned videos of artists, curators, conservators and celebrities commenting on, or related to exhibitions. The more works collected – the more ArtHunter trophies there are to win!

Month by month ArtHunter will draw attention to works across all three sites – the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, encouraging visitors with a favourite gallery to seek out gems across Edinburgh. Art fans will then make return visits to Galleries to ‘capture’ each new set.

The first set will link artworks including Picasso’s Meré et enfant, FCB Cadell’s Blue Fan and Martin Creed’s Work No. 975EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT, through the colour blue. ArtHunter is funded by the Digital Research and Development Fund for Arts and Culture Scotland, a partnership between Creative Scotland, Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Nesta and supported by the Friends of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Sir John Leighton, Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland said:

‘The ArtHunter app is an exciting new venture and I hope it will bring artworks into people’s lives in a new way, with lots of room for new art fans to get to know the collection in bite-sized portions. We’ve had great success with apps developed for specific exhibitions, and now we are able to do something which pulls all the collection together from across the whole of the National Galleries, and in time will roll out to partner organisations across Scotland – which is a fantastic achievement.’

Gavin Dutch, CEO, Kotikan added:

‘Born from the huge increase in people using their smartphones to build relationships with the world around them, ArtHunter was created as a fun and engaging way to enrich the experience of viewing art before, during and after a gallery visit. We are delighted to have collaborated with the National Galleries of Scotland on this world leading project and look forward to seeing the impact it will have on how visitors interact with the galleries around Scotland.’

To become an ArtHunter, visitors need to download the app from the Apple and Google play app stores and can then use it to guide their visit round galleries in Scotland, starting in April with the National Galleries in Edinburgh. From July, ArtHunter will partner with galleries and museums across Scotland that will contribute content and works from their own collections to the app. Organisations include the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums; The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery; The Pier Arts Centre Orkney; Stirling University; Highlife Highland; Scottish Borders Council’s Museums; Kirkcaldy Art Gallery and Glasgow Life, including Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Riverside Museum, GoMA and The Burrell Collection.

ArtHunter will be available to download from Wednesday April 3.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors.

Holiday ArtHunter Race. Saturday 06 April 2013.

This Saturday we invite you down to the National Galleries of Scotland to race to become an Art Hunter by completing the first set 'blue'. Sending you on a treasure hunt across all the gallery sites in Edinburgh - the Portrait Gallery on Queen Street, the galleries of Modern Art on Belford Road, and the Scottish National Gallery with entrances on the Mound Precinct and through from Princess Street Gardens. The gallery bus runs between the Modern Art Galleries and the Scottish National Gallery hourly, times can be found on the website. The first person to tweet, share and present completed ArtHunter Blue collection will win lunch at the Scottish Café and Restaurant.

ArtHunter is available on iOS and android, and you can download it before your visit from the Apple or Google Play app store.

Scottish Government Press Release. March 22 2013.Chair reappointed to National Galleries of Scotland. Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, today announced the reappointment of Ben Thomson, the Chair of National Galleries of Scotland.

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) includes the Scottish National Gallery complex, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. NGS is one of the most important and dynamic cultural institutions in Scotland, housing world-class collections of Fine Art.

Mr Thomson has been Chair since 2009. His reappointment will be for four years, running from April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2017.

He will continue to bring to the board experience from a range of roles across the public and private sector. Mr Thomson was Chief Executive and Chairman of Noble Group Limited, the Scottish merchant bank until its sale in 2009. He currently chairs two financial businesses, the think tank Reform Scotland and the Scottish Children’s book publisher Barrington Stoke. Mr Thomson is also on the boards of two investment trusts and the Edinburgh Science Festival. He does not hold any other ministerial appointments.

This reappointment is part-time and attracts no remuneration for a time commitment of attending approximately six board meetings per year.

This re-appointment is regulated by the Public Appointments Commissioner forScotland.

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. Ben Thomson has had no political activity in the last five years.

One of the nation's most internationally acclaimed singer-songwriters will be the focus of a spectacular new exhibition which opens at the Portrait Gallery this weekend.

The House of Annie Lennox, curated in partnership with The V&A, London, brings together an array of stunning photographs, iconic videos, and a dazzling selection of costumes, which chart Annie's unique career from its early beginnings, through her time in The Tourists and Eurythmics, as well as her hugely successful solo career, to the present. The show also includes two photographic portraits of the artist from the Gallery’s permanent collection.

The range of work on show illustrates just how significant Annie Lennox is to the history of popular music and culture. The costumes in particular demonstrate the diversity of her style and her distinct command over identity and performance - from the androgynous two-piece leather suit worn during the Eurythmics 1980s Revenge tour, to the cabaret chic costume featured in the video for Little Bird, which was taken from the chart-topping 1992 solo album Diva. Another highlight is the striking outfit she donned for her show-stopping performance of the song Under Pressure with David Bowie at the Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert of the same year.

The House of Annie Lennox continues a theme in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s recent exhibition programme, focused on impressive, strong and socially or politically engaged women. As a musical artist Annie Lennox has brought joy and inspiration to millions of people, and as humanitarian campaigner she has championed socio-political issues, such as the plight of women and children affected by AIDS.

Commenting on exhibition, Annie Lennox, said, ‘It's an incredible honour and privilege to have been given an opportunity to share and display aspects of my life's work at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. It has given me a tremendous sense of validation, and in doing so, brings a certain personal cycle to a place of arrival and completion. I hope that people will enjoy the exhibition, and garner a sense of whatever it is that's driven and inspired me.’

Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Christopher Baker, said, ‘We are so thrilled to be showcasing the career of such a distinguished Scottish song writer, performer and humanitarian campaigner. The exhibition is in essence a remarkable self-portrait, which allows us to see glimpses of Annie Lennox’s richly varied and enduring creativity: it will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of 2013 at the Portrait Gallery.’

Director of The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Martin Roth, said, ‘We are delighted to be showing the V&A's House of Annie Lennox exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery as part of our programme of touring exhibitions around the UK. Annie Lennox is one of the world's most renowned female performers whose creativity informs her unique sense of image and style. It is particularly exciting to be showing the work of this Scottish performer in Scotland at this time as we work with our partners in Dundee to create V&A at Dundee, a new design museum for Scotland.’

The life and work of one of the most extraordinary photographers in Britain during the 1930s and 1940s is the subject of a major new exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Based on extensive new research, Edith Tudor-Hart: In the Shadow of Tyranny, is the first full presentation of the Austrian-born photographer’s work. The exhibition presents over 80 photographs, many of which have never been shown before, and includes film footage, Tudor-Hart’s scrapbook and a selection of her published stories in books and magazines.

During the 1930s, photography became implicated in the vital political and social questions of the era as never before. The enhanced technological capacities of the camera and faster printing processes offered left-wing political activists new techniques for popular mobilisation. The medium took on a sharper social purpose, breaking down the traditional divisions of culture through its quality of immediacy and capacity for self-representation.

Edith Tudor-Hart was a key exponent of this aesthetic of engagement, with images that show a sophisticated realism, marked by their directness and capacity to communicate issues of inequality and deprivation. In a turbulent decade, she attempted to use the camera as a political weapon, aligning her practice with the wider worker photography movement.

Tudor-Hart’s photography dealt with many of the major social issues of the day, including poverty, unemployment and slum housing. Her imagery is a vital record of the politically-charged atmosphere of inter-war Vienna and Britain during the Great Slump of the 1930s. After 1945, Tudor-Hart concentrated on questions of child welfare, producing some of the most psychologically penetrating imagery of children of her era.

Tudor-Hart’s life story as a photographer is inextricably tied to the great political upheavals of the twentieth century. Born Edith Suschitzky in Vienna in 1908, she grew up in radical Jewish circles in a city ravaged by the impact of the First World War. Her childhood was dominated by social issues in a culture acutely aware of the impact of the Russian Revolution.

After training as a Montessori teacher, she studied photography at the Bauhaus in Dessau and pursued a career as a photojournalist. However, her life was turned upside down in May 1933 when she was arrested whilst working as an agent for the Communist Party of Austria. She escaped long-term imprisonment by marrying an English doctor, Alexander Tudor-Hart, and was exiled to London shortly afterwards. Notoriously, Tudor-Hart continued to combine her practice as a photographer with low-level espionage for the Soviet Union and was pursued by the security services until her death in 1973.

Tudor-Hart’s photography introduced into Britain formal and narrative features that derived from her training on the Continent. Her method initiates a dialogue with those she photographs, very different from the more distancing imagery of the photojournalists. Along with thirty or so German-speaking exile photographers, many of Jewish origin, Tudor-Hart helped transform British photography.

After the Second World War, rejected by Fleet Street and the British establishment, Tudor-Hart turned to documenting issues of child welfare. Her photographs were published in Picture Post and a range of other British magazines. By the late 1950s she had abandoned photography altogether.

Commenting on the exhibition, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Christopher Baker, said, ‘We are really pleased to be staging this thrilling retrospective of Tudor-Hart’s photography. It combines stunning images with an intriguing life-story and illuminates a turbulent period in European history. Tudor-Hart was one of the great photographers of her era.’

Edith Tudor-Hart: In the Shadow of Tyranny is drawn largely from the photographer’s negative archive, which was donated to the National Galleries of Scotland by her family in 2004. The exhibition travels to the Wien Museum in September and will form the first complete presentation of her work in Austria.

Edith Tudor-Hart: In the Shadow of Tyranny is being shown in the Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery and follows on from Jitka Hanzlová, continuing a strong series of photography exhibitions in the refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery, named after the renowned American photographer, is supported by a very generous donation from The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. This is being used over three years to produce innovative displays, exhibitions and research. The Gallery is the first purpose-built photography space of its kind in a major museum in Scotland.

A fascinating new exhibition which celebrates 75 amazing years of Scotland’s entertainment history will open at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this weekend. Tickling Jock: Comedy Greats from Sir Harry Lauder to Billy Connolly shines the spotlight on Scotland’s unique contribution to the world of comedy in the twentieth century. A special press preview, on Friday 22 February, will be opened by legendary actress and comedian Dorothy Paul, who will be available for interviews and photographs.

Made possible by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, Tickling Jock: Comedy Greats from Sir Harry Lauder to Billy Connolly tells the extraordinary story of Scottish comedy between 1900 and 1975, charting the careers of performers who went on to become world-renowned superstars and national treasures. Reflecting the comic traditions of the period, the exhibition features 50 stars of music-hall, stage and gramophone, as well as the ‘new’ media of radio, cinema and television, including Sir Harry Lauder, Ivor Cutler, Rikki Fulton, Andy Stewart, Anne Fields, Una McLean and Stanley Baxter. The exhibition combines portraits, photographs and caricatures from the Gallery’s own rich holdings with loans from private collectors, the Scottish Theatre archive and venues including The King’s Theatre Glasgow and The Citizens Theatre.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said:

“We are delighted to be opening this new exhibition with such a vibrant mix of portraits, archive footage and recordings of Scottish comedy greats. We hope that Tickling Jock will trigger many happy memories for visitors and at the same time introduce the comedy stars featured to a new generation. It’s a show that should generate a lot of laughter! ”

The exhibition is funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, who have raised over £23m for charities and good causes to date. People's Postcode Lottery Head of Charities Clara Govier added:

“We are really looking forward to Tickling Jock, which we are sure will bring a smile to all its visitors – both young and old. We’re delighted that players of People’s Postcode Lottery are giving their support to an exhibition that is both full of fun and time-honoured community spirit.”

Free exhibition Tickling Jock will also feature gramophone recordings and archive film and TV footage from the Scottish Theatre Archive, (University of Glasgow Library), BBC Motion Gallery, British Pathé and STV. Highlights include rare films of music-hall and variety performers such as Sir Harry Lauder and Will Fyffe; Stanley Baxter as his most enduring creation The Professor, performing Parliamo Glasgow; Renée Houston in That Was The Week That Was as the irrepressible ‘Costa Clyde’ landlady; Ronnie Corbett in a 1966 edition of The Frost Report performing the celebrated ‘Class Sketch’ with John Cleese and Ronnie Barker; rounding up with Billy Connolly’s 1975 appearance on Parkinson, when he memorably remarked, before telling a joke steeped in dark Glasgow humour, ‘I hope I can get away with this, it’s a beauty’.

For every star who topped the bill, however, there were numerous performers whose great acts have been largely forgotten: Tickling Jock will also feature comments and memories from members of the Living Memory Association who have worked with the Gallery to paint a rounded picture where footage or recorded material has been lost, from seeing Johnny Victory live on stage in Edinburgh, to memories of Andy Stewart performing in San Francisco in the 1960s in a kilt.

A complete sitters list for Tickling Jock is available. Please contact the National Galleries of Scotland press office.

To date the National Galleries of Scotland has received £239,513 from players of People's Postcode Lottery, and this funding is being used to provide various educational programmes, widening the gallery audience across the country.

The Art Fund today announced that it has completed the transfer of the late Sir Denis Mahon’s private collection of 57 Italian Baroque paintings into the collections of museums and galleries across the UK, in fulfilment of Sir Denis's wishes.

The works, which include masterpieces by Guercino, Guido Reni, Domenichino, Ludovico Carracci, Luca Giordano, Pietro de Cortona, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini and Giuseppe Maria Crespi, have entered the permanent collections of six UK museums and galleries: twenty-five works have gone to the National Gallery, London; twelve to the Ashmolean, Oxford; eight to the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh; six to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; five to Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, and one to Temple Newsam House, Leeds.

Sir Denis formed his collection over several decades, progressively demonstrating the range, significance and quality of the Italian baroque despite its comparative neglect by previous scholars. His passion and erudition – and the sheer quality of the works he brought together – changed hearts and minds and had a discernible impact on its very status in the history of European art. The national collections are very greatly enriched by this extraordinary bequest.

Sir Denis, who died in 2011, was one of Britain’s most distinguished art historians, collectors and campaigners. He left his collection to the Art Fund with instructions that the collection should be placed on display in specific locations across the country, in perpetuity.

The collection has been on long-term loan from Sir Denis to the respective museums for many years, on the condition that they did not charge admission or sell works from their collections. Sir Denis saw the Art Fund, independent of government funding and influence, as the ideal long-term guardian of his collection and his wishes. A member of the charity since a schoolboy, he joined the Art Fund in 1926 and remained a close supporter and advocate until his death in 2011.

Sir Denis Mahon's life’s work focussed on the formation of one of the most important private collections of 17th Century Italian Baroque paintings anywhere, but also entailed passionate and vociferous campaigning on behalf of museums. He was outspoken in his criticism of any government which sought to starve museums of funding or interfere in their independence. Sir Denis campaigned on two fronts above all: in support of free admission to national museums, and against the selling of works of art from museums’ permanent collections. Under the terms of the transfer of his collection into public ownership, announced today, the Art Fund's trustees, together with trustees of the Sir Denis Mahon Charitable Trust, reserve the right to withdraw works from museums which breach these principles at any point in the future.

In addition to the 57 bequeathed works, Sir Denis has also left a £1 million legacy to the Art Fund. He also gave the Ashmolean a set of 50 works associated with Guercino. Throughout his life, Sir Denis Mahon gave several major donations to the Art Fund to support major museum acquisitions, and often used his collection and donations for works of art to pressurise the present-day government to support the UK’s museums and galleries. In 1977, Bellini’s Madonna and Child Enthroned – the last major Bellini still in private hands and valued at over £1 million, was offered to Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery on condition it raised the £400,000 needed for its purchase before the three months deadline. Sir Denis offered £50,000 on condition the government matched his donation. Government grants amounted to £72,000 for that picture, which was secured by the museum.

Stephen Deuchar, Art Fund Director says: “Sir Denis Mahon was a life-long supporter of the Art Fund and shared our fundamental commitment to widening free public access to art. His vision as an art collector was extraordinary, as was his determination that his collection should ultimately be on public display. It is an enormous honour for the Art Fund to have been entrusted with his private collection and to oversee its transfer into the permanent collections of these museums and galleries across the UK.”

Dr Nicholas Penny, Director, National Gallery says: “Sir Denis was associated with the National Gallery for nearly eighty years, beginning with his appointment as an attaché to the curatorial department under Kenneth Clark and culminating in the great celebratory exhibition of his collection here in the 1990s – Discovering the Italian Baroque. As a hyperactive trustee of the gallery and exacting friend of many curators he did much to urge us to acquire great Baroque paintings. We also acquired some from him at the end of his life and he bequeathed a masterpiece by Guercino to us. Now in addition we have received many more. He is one of our greatest benefactors and we will always honour his memory.”

Sir John Leighton, Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland says: “We are delighted to have received eight paintings from the late Sir Denis Mahon’s private collection through the stewardship of the Art Fund. He was an inspirational and passionate collector who supported the National Galleries of Scotland over many years. His generous and careful choice of paintings was made in order to complement other works within the Scottish national collection and we are extremely grateful that we are now able to keep these key works of art on permanent display to the Scottish public.”

Christopher Brown, Director, Ashmolean Museum says: “Sir Denis Mahon was a tireless champion of museums. During his lifetime, the Ashmolean was hugely enriched by Denis’s friendship and support. We are profoundly grateful to him and to the Art Fund for the allocation of these twelve important paintings from the Mahon collection. They are on display in the Ashmolean’s permanent galleries where, as Denis wished, they are seen by millions of visitors free of charge.”

Simon Cane, Director of Birmingham Museums Trust says: “Sir Denis Mahon's generous bequest to Birmingham Museums Trust consists of five paintings by Salvator Rosa, Francesco Albani, Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Pier Francesco Mola and Pieter van Laer which have been on long-term loan and displayed at BMAG since 1999. The Mahon pictures add significantly to the visitors' experience as they sit particularly appropriately with the Museums' collection of Italian Baroque paintings. I am delighted that we are now able to welcome them into the permanent collection thanks to the vision of Sir Denis Mahon and the support of the Art Fund.”

David Scrase, Acting Director, Fitzwilliam Museum says: "We are delighted that this choice group of paintings have become a permanent part of our collection. Sir Denis Mahon chose with great care the long-term home for his paintings. Each of these examples makes a significant point within our current holdings, extending and improving the Fitzwilliam's Collections. We are very pleased that Denis' memory will be preserved in permanence at the Fitzwilliam."

John Roles, Head of Museums and Galleries, Leeds City Council says: “This is another significant step in restoring the original contents of Temple Newsam House. In 1922 the contents of the house were dispersed or sold before the estate was purchased by the city of Leeds. Over the following decades as the house has gradually been restored to its former glory, many of the original contents have been repatriated to the house which now contains one of the most important collections of decorative and fine arts in the country. There are now over 400 paintings on show in the house half of which originated there. The Pier Francesco Mola work is an important addition as it was listed as hanging in the Picture Gallery in the 1808 house inventory so we are particularly pleased that Sir Denis was willing to allow the painting to return to its original home, initially on loan and now as a permanent bequest.”

About the Art FundThe Art Fund is the national fundraising charity, helping museums to buy and show great art for everyone. Over the past 5 years we’ve given £24m to help over 200 museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections, from ancient sculpture and treasure hoards to Old Master paintings and contemporary commissions. We also support a range of programmes which promote museums and their collections to wider audiences, including the national tour of the ARTIST ROOMS collection, the Art Fund Prize which rewards and celebrates Museum of the Year, and our Art Guide, a pioneering smartphone app offering the most comprehensive guide to seeing art across the UK. We are independently funded, the majority of our income coming from 95,000 members who, through the National Art Pass, enjoy free and discounted entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions. Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.

Ashmolean MuseumFounded in 1683, the Ashmolean Museum is the most significant museum of art and archaeology in the heart of Britain, and the finest university museum in the world. Its collections are large, rich and unusually diverse, ranging from archaeology to fine and decorative arts, and from numismatics to casts of classical sculpture from the great museums of Europe. The Ashmolean is home to the best collection of Predynastic Egyptian material in Europe; the only great collection of Minoan antiquities outside Greece; the largest and most important group of Raphael drawings in the world; the greatest Anglo-Saxon collections outside the British Museum; a world-renowned collection of coins and medals; and outstanding holdings of Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Islamic art. The works and objects in these remarkable collections tell the story of civilisation and the aspirations of mankind from Nineveh and ancient Egypt, to the Renaissance, right up to the triumphs of twentieth century Europe. Admission to the Museum is free. For more information please contact Claire Parris, Press Officer: claire.parris@ashmus.ox.ac.uk, 01865 278 178, www.ashmolean.org

Birmingham Museums TrustBirmingham Museums Trust has been established to govern and manage the museum sites and collections owned by Birmingham City Council and Thinktank, Birmingham’s Science Museum. The new independent organisation is focused on sustaining and developing key partnerships within the city and beyond, in order to deliver high quality, audience focused museum services, and meet the needs of Birmingham communities as well as its wider audiences. The establishment of Birmingham Museums Trust means that visitors to all venues can take advantage of even more educational and entertaining events and activities, ranging from arts and crafts to history and culture from around the world. www.bmag.org.uk. For more information please contact Claire Fudge, PR Manager on 0121 202 2210/ 07707 531405 or claire.fudge@birminghammuseums.org.uk

The Fitzwilliam MuseumFounded in 1816 the Fitzwilliam is the principal museum of the University of Cambridge, with collections exploring world history and art from antiquity to the present day. It houses over half a million objects from ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman artefacts, to medieval illuminated manuscripts, masterpiece paintings from the Renaissance to the 21st century and outstanding collections of applied arts, ceramics, coins, and Asian arts.Welcoming over 400,000 visitors a year, the Fitzwilliam presents a wide ranging public programme of major exhibitions, events and education activities, and is an internationally recognised institute of learning, research and conservation. Admission to the Museum is free.www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

The National GalleryThe National Gallery is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation's collection of Western European paintings from the late thirteenth to the early twentieth century. No other collection possesses such consistent quality, nor better tells the story of Western European painting.The collection belongs to the nation and serves a diverse public from the UK and overseas. It is open to all, 361 days of the year, free of charge. Around 5 million people visit the National Gallery each year. The collection represents the greatest Western European painters including Van Eyck, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Turner, Rembrandt, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Rubens, Velázquez, Van Dyck, Titian and Bellini. The Gallery's key objectives are to enhance the collection, care for the collection and provide the best possible access to visitors. www.nationalgallery.org.uk.

National Galleries of ScotlandThe National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) looks after one of the world's finest collections of Western art ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day. These holdings include the National Collection of Scottish art which is displayed in an international context. Every year the NGS welcome over 1.5 million visitors from Scotland and the rest of the world to our three Galleries sited in Edinburgh. These include the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The Scottish National Gallery comprises three linked buildings at the foot of the Mound in Edinburgh. The Gallery houses the national collection of fine art from the early Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century, including the national collection of Scottish art from around 1600 to 1900. The Gallery is joined to the Royal Scottish Academy building via the underground Weston Link, which contains a restaurant, café, cloakroom and information desk. The Academy building, which was reopened in 2003 following refurbishment, is a world-class venue for special temporary exhibitions.

Home to Scotland’s outstanding national collection of modern and contemporary art, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art comprises two buildings, Modern One and Modern Two. The early part of the collection at Modern One features French and Russian art from the beginning of the twentieth century, cubist paintings and superb holdings of Expressionist and modern British art. The Gallery also has an outstanding collection of international post-war work and the most important and extensive collection of modern Scottish art. Modern Two is home to a changing programme of world-class exhibitions and displays drawn from the collection. It also houses a fascinating re-creation of Eduardo Paolozzi’s studio. Also on display is The Stairwell Project, a large-scale, permanent work by 2009 Turner Prize winner Richard Wright.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopened after refurbishment in December 2011. This Gallery is about the people of Scotland – past and present, famous or forgotten. The portraits are windows into their lives and the displays throughout the beautiful Arts and Crafts building help explain how the men and women of earlier times made Scotland the country it is today. Photography and film also form part of the collection and help to make Scotland’s colourful history come alive.For further information please go to nationalgalleries.org or call 0131 624 6200. Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/nationalgalleries or follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/NatGalleriessco

A reference to free admission is not part of the terms of the bequest to Temple Newsam House, which has charged for admission since it opened to the public in 1922. Mola’s Landscape with two Carthusian Monks, was sold at auction by Lord Halifax, owner of Temple Newsam House in 1947. Sir Denis bought the work at that auction in order for it to return to the museum, and it now hangs in the same spot as it is recorded to have hung in Temple Newsam’s 1808 inventory.

One of the earliest drawings in the national collection, Christ and Saint Peter by Gentile da Fabriano, c. 1420s, features in a new exhibition devoted to a versatile and beautiful drawing medium.

Ink showcases works by a range of distinguished artists, including Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Guercino, Poussin, Goltzius and Alexander Runciman. The display features rarely seen works, as well as several that are being exhibited for the first time.

Drawing in ink was prevalent in the art of ancient cultures, particularly in Asia. During the Renaissance, technical and stylistic experimentation with the medium saw it become a popular technique amongst European artists. The drawings on display show how, over the centuries, artists have exploited the qualities of this highly versatile medium to achieve an array of distinctive effects and to fulfil a variety of different functions. The works range from rapid sketches made as preparatory studies for paintings, to architectural blueprints and elaborate designs for prints; and from formal drawings and illustrative pieces, to sketches created for the artist’s own enjoyment.

Goltzius was an extraordinarily talented draughtsman and engraver. Signed in full, this exceptional drawing must have been considered a finished work of art in its own right, possibly destined for a highly discerning connoisseur such as the Emperor Rudolph II in Prague.

One of the oldest works in the collection, the figures have been created with incredibly fine strokes using a thin pen. Gentile was one of the leading Italian exponents of the transitional style known as the International Gothic.

Playfair was one of Scotland’s most celebrated neoclassical architects and he designed many of Edinburgh’s finest buildings. This drawing is one of a pair of designs in the Gallery’s collection for the 1832 extension and remodelling of the Royal Institution Building, now the Royal Scottish Academy. Playfair’s planned changes included a statue of Pallas Athena above the front pediment. The statue was never realised and in 1844 the sculpture of Queen Victoria dressed as Britannia was installed instead.

This remarkable and highly detailed drawing was made by an artist born without hands or feet and who was only twenty-nine inches tall. Despite his disability, which left him with only fin-like appendages for hands, he showed extraordinary dexterity in his drawings and engravings, and was also a talented musician and conjurer.

In keeping with a century-old tradition, New Year’s Day at the Scottish National Gallery will be marked by the opening of the annual exhibition of watercolours by J M W Turner (1775–1851). In his 1900 bequest to the gallery, Henry Vaughan, a London art collector who amassed an outstanding group of watercolours by the British painter, stipulated that the Turner watercolours must not be subjected to permanent display, since continual exposure to light would result in their fading.

The annual exhibition of thirty-eight works on paper has become a much-loved tradition at the Scottish National Gallery. The display runs throughout January, providing a thoughtful counterpoint to the more energetic celebrations of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, and a welcome injection of light and colour during the darkest month of the year.

Recognised as perhaps the greatest of all British artists, Turner was a master of watercolour painting, using the medium to create stunning land and seascapes, topographical views and designs for book illustrations. Vaughan acquired examples from every period of the artist’s career, and chose each with a connoisseur’s eye for quality. The exquisite works in his bequest range from early wash drawings of the 1790s, to colourful and atmospheric watercolour sketches of Continental Europe, executed in the 1830s and 1840s.

For Turner, as for many artists and writers at the end of the eighteenth century, the vastness and violence of nature inspired a sense of awe, or even a terror, which was described as an experience of the ‘Sublime’. It was the opportunity to express these emotions through landscape painting which attracted Turner repeatedly to the mountains of Britain and Europe, and to paint the savage elemental forces seen in avalanches, storms and mountainous seas. These experiences can be seen in works such as Loch Coruisk, Skye which was painted after one of the artist’s trips to the Scottish Highlands, in 1831, and Sion, Capital of the Canton Valais, which was created following one of his many journeys to the Swiss Alps.

Turner also visited Venice on three occasions, in 1819, 1833 and 1840, and the Vaughan Bequest features six of the artist’s stunning views of the city. In The Piazzetta, Venice, one of Turner’s most spectacular Venetian studies, a bolt of lightning dramatically illuminates the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Basilica. Turner created such effects by scratching away to reveal the paper once he had painted on it: he sometimes used his thumbnail, which he is reputed to have grown like an ‘eagle-claw’, for such a purpose.

Other works, such as The Grand Canal by the Salute, Venice, and The Sun of Venice,which were made in the city in 1840, demonstrate Turner’s consummate mastery of atmospheric lighting effects. In these watercolours, light itself seems to have become the main subject.

For much of his career, Turner was engaged in commissions to provide illustrations for books, and many of his trips were undertaken with a specific publishing project in mind. The artist’s prolific activities as an illustrator are represented here by a number of images, including scenes painted for Robert Cadell’s collected editions of the Poetical and Prose Works of Sir Walter Scott.

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For further information and images, please call the Press Office on 0131 624 6325/ 332/ 314

RESULTS OF CLYDEBANK NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND OUTREACH PROJECT TO BE EXHIBITED AT LOCAL LIBRARY

This exhibition presents artworks made as part of The Nation//Live - Work, the recent National Galleries of Scotland Communities Outreach project, organised in partnership with West Dunbartonshire Council Libraries and Museums, and Visible Fictions Theatre Company.

The project celebrated the life and legacy of Jimmy Reid, the trade unionist and one of the leaders of the 1971-2 Work-in at the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, and culminated in a performance by members of the local community in Clydebank on Monday 7 May 2012. Titled Work: A Reconstruction of Clydebank Voices, the performance took place next to the site of the former John Brown’s shipyard.

Jimmy Reid’s passionate fight for the working people of the Clyde in the 1970s inspired the works in this exhibition and passages from his speeches, performed by local students in a new audio drama by Martin O’Connor, will be playing throughout the gallery.

Inspired by artist Kenny Hunter’s bust of Jimmy Reid (commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 1999), the collaborative project coincided with the 40th anniversary of the 1971-72 Work-in at the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders - a campaign which sought to prevent the decline of shipbuilding on the Clyde. The continued pertinence of these events was explored throughout the course of The Nation//Live project in a community-wide conversation, addressing the nature and availability of employment on Clydeside today.

The Nation//Live - Work exhibition centres on Kenny Hunter’s bright red bust of Reid, and includes various art works, from film to photograph and installations created throughout the 2011-12 project. Daniel Warren’s film Work features Clydebank residents sharing their memories of Jimmy Reid and his legacy; also on show is S.S. Reid, a work constructed by BAE System apprentices out of a ship’s hull. Photographs of young people, both from apprentice schemes and St Peter The Apostle High School, Clybebank, are seen with statements that reflect their views on the issue of ‘Work’.

‘Through The Nation//Live initiative we have set in motion a cross-generational dialogue about the power history has over people’s lives today. This project and exhibition offer a platform for the people of Clydebank to represent themselves at an important moment in Scotland’s history. Our aim is to support communities in creating exciting and relevant work - inspired by works of art from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s collection.’

The exhibition at Dalmuir Library will host several events including an open discussion which will give local people a chance to talk together about the works on show and share their experiences. Also on Tuesday 15 January celebrated Scottish folk/electronic musician Drew Wright (aka Wounded Knee) will perform sounds of the Clyde shipyards matched with migrant’s songs from around the world.

This exhibition presents the first part of a major nationwide project which aims to explore transformations in Scottish history and to assess their impact today. The project as a whole will culminate in an exhibition at the SNPG in October 2013. A specially commissioned film by Daniel Warren, documenting the project in its entirety, will be premiered at the opening.

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Notes to Editors:

Union, the second part of the initiative, has just finished after exploring present-day Highlander’s views on the Act of Union of 1707. Inspired by Jacobite and Hanoverian medals on display in the SNPG, participants (led by artist Kevin Reid) have designed and cast their own medals forged in a mobile foundry at Fort George. These medals reflect the participants’ sense of personal, and national, identity.

The Nation//Live – Faith(May - June 2013) will focus on St Columba’s conversion of the Picts on Skye and the coming of Christianity to Scotland as a whole. Young people on Skye will investigate sites on the island associated with the saint’s mission and assess whether a fundamental shift in belief could be possible in Scotland today. Young people on Skye will assess the power that miracles had to change hearts and minds, as they explore this decisive moment in Scottish history.

The Nation//Live – Civil War (April - May 2013) will examine the impact of the Covenanting era – a period of religious conflict in the late-seventeenth century which has left a poignant physical heritage of monuments and graves scattered across the landscape of south-west Scotland. Young people from the region will investigate how this era shaped contemporary Scotland, and how it might inform their understanding of conflicts around the world today.

Drew Wright (aka Wounded Knee) will be leading The Nation//Live – Roots (January - September 2013), a national project which aims to create a collection of songs made by migrants to Scotland. By collaborating with Drew, and inspired by their native musical traditions and Scots’ folk traditions, the participants will create songs which describe their views of Scotland’s future. The new songs from Roots will be released in LP format.

The Scottish National Gallery will today unveil some major developments and ambitious plans for 2013, including the arrival on loan of Auguste Rodin’s iconic sculpture The Kiss, and an exhibition of breath-taking landscapes by the nineteenth-century American painter Frederic Church.

The New Year will open with the traditional display of magnificent Turner watercolours, which are shown at the Gallery every year from 1 to 31 January. Bequeathed by the distinguished collector Henry Vaughan in 1899, the 38 works illustrate the full range of Turner's achievement, from his early wash drawings of the 1790s to colourful and atmospheric sketches of Continental Europe made in the 1830s and 1840s. In his will, Vaughan stipulated that the works should only be shown in January, when daylight is at its weakest, to prevent them from fading. This annual exhibition is now a key event in the Gallery's calendar.

Rodin’s world-famous celebration of erotic love The Kiss, will arrive for a year-long display on 2 February. The magnificent, larger-than-life marble sculpture of two naked lovers, entwined in a passionate embrace will be on loan from Tate in London.

Having first shown TheKiss to huge popular acclaim in 1898, Rodin was commissioned to make this second version, which was completed in 1904. It depicts the adulterous lovers Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, who appear as characters in Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Dante relates how the couple’s passion grew as they read together the story of Lancelot and Guinevere (the book can just be seen in Paolo’s hand), but they were discovered and murdered by Francesca’s outraged husband, Paolo’s older brother Giancotto.

The story inspired many playwrights, composers and artists in the nineteenth century, and is the subject of a much-loved painting in the Gallery’s collection, Francesca da Rimini (1837) by Sir William Dyce.

Three full-scale marble versions of The Kiss were made in Rodin’s lifetime, and the sculptor also made smaller versions in plaster, terracotta and bronze. Such was allure of The Kiss that hundreds of bronze copies were produced by the Barbedienne foundry. As a result, this spectacular sculpture has become one of the most instantly recognised and best-loved works of art in the world.

Speaking of the loan, Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, said: ‘We are delighted that Rodin’s great hymn to love is coming to Scotland. Rodin was a wonderfully gifted sculptor – technically brilliant, with an astonishing ability to model the human form with sensuous realism. The Kiss is rightly acknowledged as one of the greatest artistic evocations of desire ever created.’

At the beginning of February work will begin on the renovation of the Gallery’s cupolas or glass roofing. This £1m energy-saving project, which has been funded by Scottish Government, will replace all of the existing single-glazed roof lights in the main floor of the Gallery with double-glazed panels, increasing energy efficiency and reducing running costs. It will also enable LED lighting to be installed, making further energy savings. Disruption will be kept to minimum: between 4 February and the end of July, there will be a series of temporary room closures to accommodate the work. The rest of the Gallery’s main floor will remain open, along with the upper floors of Early Italian and Impressionist painting and the Scottish Collection in the lower wing. The project will also create the opportunity to update the Gallery’s interior decoration, which is more than 20 years old, and to install wi-fi throughout the main floor.

Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch, which will be on show from 11 May to 8 September, will celebrate the work of one of the greatest American landscape painters of the nineteenth century. Church (1826–1900) is renowned for his spectacular landscapes, which combine dramatic compositions with beautifully observed light effects. His particular fascination for stirring subjects, which celebrate the sublime view of nature, took Church to locations as distant as the Arctic Circle, Ecuador, Jordan, Jamaica and Bavaria.

Working out of doors and painting directly from nature, Church created oil sketches which could later be worked into large-scale studio landscapes. This exhibition will bring together some 25 of these remarkably fresh and spontaneous paintings, such as Königsee, Bavaria, 1868 and The Iceberg, painted in the waters off Labrador around 1875, which are a testament to the ambitious scope of Church's vision. The exhibition will also include paintings such as Winter Twilight from Olana,c.1871-72, and Sunrise (the Rising Sun), 1862, which were executed close to Church’s home in Hudson, New York, with its with magnificent views of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains.

To illustrate the relationship of Church's oil sketches to his finished studio canvases, the exhibition will also include the greatest American landscape painting in Europe, Niagara Falls, from the American Side, 1867, which is in the Scottish National Gallery's own collection. This masterpiece, which measures more than two metres squared, was donated to the Gallery in 1887 by an ex-patriot Scot, John Stewart Kennedy, a Lanarkshire-born emigrant entrepreneur who had amassed a substantial fortune in iron and coal.

The exhibition will reflect Church’s pioneering and adventurous spirit and highlight the significance of his achievement: in a time before National Geographic and David Attenborough, Church’s paintings of the Arctic, South America, Europe and the Middle East drew great crowds keen to see the visual wonders of the world beyond their reach.

Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch has been organised by the National Gallery, London, in partnership with and through major support from the Terra Foundation for American Art.

SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL

Telephone: 0131 624 6200 | Admission free | nationalgalleries.org

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10 December 2012Witches in spotlight in first major exhibition to explore 500 years of wicked history

WITCHES IN SPOTLIGHT IN FIRST MAJOR EXHIBITION EVER TO EXPLORE 500 YEARS OF WICKED HISTORY

The fascination for witches, which has gripped many Western artists from the sixteenth century to the present, will be the subject of a major new exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art next summer. Witches and Wicked Bodies, opening July 2013, will delve into the dark and cruel origins of the classic image of the witch, and demonstrate how the now familiar old woman on a broomstick is just one part of a rich and very diverse visual tradition.

Witches and Wicked Bodies will highlight the inventive approaches to the depiction of witches and witchcraft employed by a broad range of artists over the past 500 years, with striking examples by famous names such as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Salvator Rosa, Francisco de Goya, Henry Fuseli, John William Waterhouse and William Blake. The selection will also include more recent interpretations of the subject, by twentieth-century and contemporary artists including Paula Rego, Kiki Smith and Edward Burra. The exhibition has been curated by the National Galleries of Scotland with artist and writer Deanna Petherbridge and will contain major works on loan from the British Museum; the National Gallery (London); the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Tate; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, to be shown alongside key images from the Royal Scottish Academy and the Galleries’ own collections.

John Leighton, Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said:

“We look to offer our public a world-class yet very distinctive programme of exhibitions. I believe that this is the first time that witchcraft across the ages has been the subject of a major art exhibition in the UK and we are delighted to be partners with the British Museum on this truly fascinating and compelling show.“

Europe has a long history of witchcraft and the persecution of witches was particularly widespread in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, accounting for thousands of deaths of women and even children. Prints and drawings dating from this period will form a key part of the exhibition, showing how the advent of the printing press gave artists as well as writers the means to share ideas, myths and fears about witches from country to country. Engravings by Albrecht Dürer will be shown alongside woodcuts by Hans Baldung Grien and many other printmakers including Bruegel and de Gheyn.

The exhibition will focus on six key themes. The centrepiece of ‘Witches’ Sabbaths and Devilish Rituals’ is one of the most famous images of witches of all time – Salvator Rosa’s Witches at their Incantations on loan from the National Gallery (London). ‘Unnatural Acts of Flying’ will include the origins of the image of the witch as an old woman riding a broomstick against a night sky, but rather than the cloaked figure wearing a pointy hat that has become so widely known to adults and children alike, this section features more sinister images of flying witches attending black masses.

In ‘Magic Circles, Incantations and Raising the Dead’, visitors will encounter glamorous witches cooking up spells as in Frans Francken’s 1606 painting Witches’ Sabbath. This powerful section also includes the luscious 1886 painting by John William Waterhouse, The Magic Circle.

‘Hideous Hags and Beautiful Witches’ will include the medusa-like witch with snakes for hair in John Hamilton Mortimer’s drawing Envy and Distraction. This introductory section will also feature unsettling works depicting old crones by Francisco de Goya – the exhibition contains a significant group of works by this major Spanish artist. Some of the images are genuinely frightening and disturbing, whereas others will reveal the negative attitudes towards women in periods when they were very much seen as the second sex.Due to the particular association of women with witchcraft, these workswill highlight the ways in which a largely male-dominated European society has viewed female imperfections, highlighting the concerns created by women laying claim to special powers, or simply behaving in the ‘wrong’ way.

Works depicting the various appearances of the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in ‘Unholy Trinities and The Weird Sisters from Macbeth’, will range from John Martin’s theatrical large-scale painting of Banquo and Macbeth lost on the blasted heath, with the turbulent skies swirling over exaggerated mountains, through to John Runciman’s striking drawing which here is interpreted as the Three Witches conspiring over Macbeth’s fate.

This fascinating thematic survey will culminate with ‘The Persistence of Witches’. Works by Kiki Smith and Paula Rego mark a sea-change with these high-profile contemporary artists’ own take on a subject that had previously been almost exclusively male-dominated. In Smith’s study Out of the Woods, the artist herself explores the expressions and attitudes of the ‘witch,’ whereas Rego’s 1996 work Straw Burning relates to the famous Pendle Witch trials which took place in 1612 in Lancaster, 400 years ago.

The exhibition has been organised in partnership with the British Museum, whose loans will include William Blake’s magnificent drawing The Whore of Babylon which will be shown alongside the National Galleries’ own Blake drawing, once thought to depict Hecate, the classical witch of the crossroads.

Witches and Wicked Bodies will be an investigation of extremes, exploring the highly exaggerated ways in which witches have been represented, from hideous hags to beautiful seductresses who ‘bewitch’ unwary men.

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Notes to Editors.

Witches and Wicked Bodies runs 27 July to 3 November 2013.

Cultural references:

This new exhibition joins the current discussion on the history of witches, including:

This year’s anniversary of the 1612 Pendle Witch Trials in Lancaster

Fantasy TV including Game of Thrones which includes detailed accounts of witchcraft in a fictional medieval world.

The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs today announced two new appointments to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland.

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) has three sites in Edinburgh; the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. NGS is one of the most important and dynamic cultural institutions in Scotland, housing the nation’s world-class collection of Fine Art.

Tricia Bey and Catherine Muirden have been appointed to the Board for four years from 1 November 2012 to 31 October 2016. The roles are part-time and attract no remuneration for a time commitment of attending approximately six board meetings per year.

Ben Thomson, Chairman of the Board commented: “Tricia Bey and Catherine Muirden bring extremely valuable knowledge and skills to our Board. Their depth of experience will be invaluable as we work to develop the world-class standing of the Galleries in an extremely challenging economic context.”

In her early career, Tricia Bey worked in the pre-internet world of patent information. She then spent 14 years with Deloitte Consulting building and leading different practice areas including two years as the Managing Partner of the Dutch consulting practice. She was later Managing Director of a London-based management development school. She now lives in Ayrshire running her own award-winning cheese making business. Tricia has an Engineering Science degree from Durham University and an MBA from The London Business School. She is a Trustee of the Friends of the V&A and a Director of Taste Ayrshire. Tricia does not hold any other ministerial appointments.

Catherine Muirden is a Human Resources professional, currently Head of HR in the Retail Bank at Barclays. Her interests and activities include diversity and inclusion, employee engagement and youth employability. After graduating from Edinburgh University, her management career began at Marks and Spencer, where she held senior HR positions including Group Head of Recruitment. She is a non-executive Director of The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. Catherine does not hold any other ministerial appointments.

These appointments are regulated by the Public Appointments Commissioner for Scotland.

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. Neither of the new members have had any political activity in the last five years.

For further information please contact the Press Office of the National Galleries of Scotland on pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org or 0131 624 6325/6314/6332/6247

The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to announce the acquisition of a rare watercolour, Sleep by Frances Macdonald MacNair (1874-1921). The artist, sister-in-law to Charles Rennie Mackintosh, was a key figure in the ‘Glasgow Style’ movement of c.1890-1910 and it will be the first work by this artist in the Scottish national collection.

The work was bought for £60,000 from a Lyon and Turnbull auction of the collection of Don and Eleanor Taffner, held on 7 September this year. The Taffners were an American couple who had developed a long association with the Glasgow School of Art and a love for the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. This mysterious picture, one of no more than a dozen independent watercolours which survive, is one of the most outstanding examples of MacNair’s work, appearing in all the studies on her and the Glasgow group.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland commented: 'This is a haunting, enigmatic picture which shows Scottish artists at the forefront of European symbolist art. We have wanted to acquire a work by Frances MacNair for many years, but they are incredibly rare. Had we been able to choose just one work, it would have been this one, so we are obviously delighted to have it.'

Frances Macdonald MacNair was born near Wolverhampton and moved with her family to Glasgow in the late 1880s. In 1891 Frances and her older sister Margaret (1865-1933), enrolled at Glasgow School of Art where they met fellow students Charles Rennie Mackintosh and James Herbert McNair. By 1894, the Macdonald sisters had left the School of Art and established a studio in Hope Street, Glasgow where they made metalwork, embroideries, jewellery and craft items. They were also beginning to collaborate on similar work with Mackintosh and MacNair, providing decorative detail for their furniture. They soon became known as ‘The Four’, also as the ‘Mac group’ and as ‘The Spook School’, owing to the ghostly, spectral appearances of the figures in many of their works.

MacNair and Frances Macdonald married in 1899 and Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald in 1900. They exhibited at the Eighth Secessionist exhibition in Vienna in 1900 but their international reputations were cemented by the work they showed at the great International Exhibition of Decorative Art in Turin in 1902. The show included work by The Four and also Jessie M. King and E.A. Taylor with the links between their work, and that of the Viennese, including Hoffman and Gustav Klimt, obviously apparent and acknowledged. Frances and James Herbert moved to Liverpool following their marriage, but returned to Glasgow in 1909.

Biographies of Macdonald and her husband acknowledge tremendous difficulties in their relationship and her death in 1921 was possibly suicide. She was not productive as a watercolour artist and her husband destroyed much of her work after her death. Just seven of her works have appeared at auction in the past twenty years with the Taffners buying five of them including Sleep.

This work will be displayed at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art next autumn alongside a key painting, The Mysterious Garden by her sister, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, which was acquired for the national collection in 2011.

NATIONAL TREASURE ACQUIRED IN PARTNERSHIP BY NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND AND GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and Glasgow City Council are delighted to announce their first ever joint acquisition, In the Orchard, a major work of art by Sir James Guthrie (1859-1930).

This seminal work was secured for £637,500 with the help of £423,358 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) and £62,983 from the Art Fund when it was auctioned at Sotheby’s on 13 November 2012.

John Leighton, Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland commented: “Guthrie’s In the Orchard is a key masterpiece in the story of Scottish art and, at a time when funding is obviously very scarce, it is entirely fitting that NGS and Glasgow City Council should join forces to acquire this iconic work for the public. We are immensely grateful to the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund for their rapid and very generous support which has allowed us to move quickly to secure this extremely important work at auction.”

Cllr Archie Graham, Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, and Chair of Glasgow Life said: “We’re thrilled to have been able to save this masterpiece for both Glasgow and Scotland. As was recently seen with our record-breaking Glasgow Boys exhibition, the work of Guthrie and this remarkable group of artists has never been more popular. I’m very grateful that this partnership has secured this outstanding work, which the public will enjoy for generations to come. It will be an excellent addition to Glasgow’s collections.”

Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the NHMF, said: “This is wonderful news. Guthrie’s In the Orchard is universally acknowledged as one of the most powerful paintings of the Glasgow Boys Movement, which directed the course of modern art in 19th century Britain. When news reached the National Heritage Memorial Fund just fourteen days ago that this seminal work was at risk, we were able to act extremely fast and pledge our support in record time to secure this important part of our heritage for future generations to enjoy.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund said: “This is a captivating example of a Glasgow Boys painting which deserves to be part of the public collections in Scotland. We were delighted to hear of the success at auction for the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Museums and are so pleased to have been able to contribute.”

Guthrie’s In the Orchard is one of the great masterpieces produced by the leading member of The Glasgow Boys, a loose-knit group of painters working at the end of the 19th century which included other such famous figures as E.A. Walton, George Henry and John Lavery. The group, who were initially rejected by the art establishment, shared broad artistic ideals of naturalism and much of their work was inspired by Glasgow’s surrounding villages and countryside. Guthrie in particular continued to reflect ‘realities’ of everyday Scottish rural life throughout his work whilst other members of the group diversified.

In the Orchard enjoyed early international fame, it was first unveiled alongside Lavery’s Tennis Party (Aberdeen Art Gallery) and Walton’s Day Dream (Scottish National Gallery) and was declared as ‘one of the most important works by Glasgow artists’. Exhibited in Glasgow (1887) and Edinburgh (1888), it achieved international fame at the Paris Salon (1889) and at the Munich international exhibition of 1890. Both Glasgow Museums and the National Galleries of Scotland have significant holdings of The Glasgow Boys work so it is highly appropriate that the painting should be shared between the two public institutions. It was also one of the highlights of the recent highly successful exhibition Pioneering Painters: The Glasgow Boys shown at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow and the Royal Academy, London 2010-11.

The paintingwill now be shared equally by the NGS and Glasgow Museums and, after being shown in both Edinburgh and Glasgow in 2012-13, be exhibited in each institution on a three year alternating basis.

The National Heritage Memorial Fund was set up in 1980to save the most outstanding parts of our national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It will receive £20million Government grant in aid between 2011-15 allowing for an annual budget of £4m-5m. www.nhmf.org.uk.

James Guthrie’s In the Orchard joins a diverse range of over 1,200 iconic objects and places which have been safeguarded by the NHMF to the tune of over £300million. These include:

The Coenwulf Coin

Stepney Armorial Dinner Service

The Grade I listed medieval hall house, Llwyn Celyn in Monmouthshire

William Dyce’s famous painting Welsh Landscape with Two Women Knitting

The Milton Keynes Pot of Gold

The Stirlingshire Hoard

The Mary Rose

The Flying Scotsman

The last surviving World War II destroyer, HMS Cavalier

The archive of the Viscounts Melville

The last surviving World War II motorboats, HSL 102 and MGB 81

The Ward Estate within Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park

Skokholm Island, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Pembrokeshire

The Art Fundis the national fundraising charity for art, helping museums to buy and show great art for everyone to enjoy. Over the past 5 years it has given £24m to help over 200 museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections, from ancient sculpture and treasure hoards to Old Master paintings and contemporary commissions. It also supports a range of programmes which promote museums and their collections to wider audiences, including the national tour of the ARTIST ROOMS collection, the Art Fund Prize which rewards and celebrates Museum of the Year, and its Art Guide, a pioneering smartphone app offering the most comprehensive guide to seeing art across the UK. It is independently funded, the majority of its income coming from 95,000 members who, through the National Art Pass, enjoy free and discounted entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions.

Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.

The largest, most comprehensive exhibition of work by one of Scotland’s greatest living artists will open at the Scottish National Gallery this week. Marking his seventieth birthday, and celebrating his astonishing contribution to British painting, John Bellany: A Passion for Life will bring together around 75 paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints from all the key periods of the artist’s remarkable fifty-year career. This will be the first retrospective of this scale in almost three decades; it will include many works that have rarely, if ever, been exhibited before.

The exhibition is funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, who have raised over £21m for charities and good causes to date. People's Postcode Lottery Head of Charities Clara Govier commented: “This exhibition – a celebration of John Bellany’s 70th birthday – is a wonderful way to show the longstanding influence this artist has had not only internationally, but to local Scottish communities. We hope that the support from our players helps to ensure that this remarkable collection of works will go on to inspire further generations and communities.”

The exhibition will begin with canvases produced while Bellany was a student at Edinburgh College of Art in the early 1960s and culminate in a selection of his most recent landscape paintings, highlighting the significant themes and events that have fuelled his deeply personal art: a strict Calvinist upbringing, his rebellious beginnings and artistic influences, the unwavering belief that art should be grounded in the realities of life, his use of a complex personal symbolism, and his unflinching reflection upon his own tragedies and triumphs.

Bellany was born in 1942 in Port Seton, a close-knit fishing community 10 miles to the east of Edinburgh, and his painting is filled with imagery that derives from his close connection to the sea. His early canvases, painted on a monumental scale, were marked by an extraordinary ambition and self-confidence. These intensely felt paintings of fisherfolk and their precarious existence were a direct challenge to the decorative landscapes and still lifes that characterised much contemporary Scottish painting in the 1960s. During the Edinburgh Festivals of 1964 and 1965 Bellany and his colleague Sandy Moffat famously mounted their own outdoor exhibitions, hanging their paintings on the railings outside the Scottish National Gallery and Royal Scottish Academy. Almost half a century on, a number of early masterpieces from this rebellious period, including The Boat Builders (1962) and The Box Meeting, Cockenzie (1965) will make a triumphant return to the building.

The heroic social realism of Bellany’s early work also ran counter to the prevailing trend for abstraction, and revealed his admiration for modernist artists like Fernand Léger whose celebrated series The Constructors from the 1950s was a direct inspiration. Importantly Bellany also looked to the Old Masters, such as Titian, Tintoretto, Rubens and Poussin. The composition of The Box Meeting, Cockenzie (1965) is based on a copy of The Feast of the Gods (c.1625-50) by Giovanni Bellini, in the Scottish National Gallery. The painting depicts the revelries that follow a traditional ceremony to bless the deeds of local fishing boats, and perfectly illustrates the sacred and profane theme that is central in much of Bellany’s work.

The deeply felt but sometimes harsh religion of Bellany’s childhood made an indelible impression on him. Paintings like Scottish Fish Gutter (1965), Kinlochbervie (1966), The Obsession (1966) and Bethel (1967) are rich in symbolism and borrow elements of traditional Christian iconography, such as the Crucifixion and the Last Supper, to transform images of ordinary fishermen into powerful allegories, and link Bellany’s own experiences to the grand and universal subjects of Western art.

A formative trip to East Germany in 1967, during which Bellany was shaken by a visit to the site of the concentration camp at Buchenwald, introduced still darker notes into his work. Bellany’s world view had become more tragic, ambiguous and complex and, influenced by the work of the German Expressionist artist Max Beckmann, he embarked upon a series of paintings, such as Skate Fetish (1973) and Lap Dog (1973) that dealt with the issue of original sin, sex, guilt and death. He also began to develop a complex repertoire of symbolic creatures, including the skate, the seagull, the puffin, the skeleton, the dog, the cat, the fish, the owl and the monkey, that populate many of his paintings, providing a disguise or cover for the artist, or embodying his personal demons.

The paintings of the 1970s were haunted by a growing awareness of fate and doom, with the familiar motif of the boat becoming a symbol of the voyage from life to death. Bellany’s brushwork, in paintings such as The Sea People (1975) and Cod End (1977), became wilder and more expressionistic, leading to a period of semi-abstract work in which themes of aggression, violence and general breakdown predominated. In the late 1970s this process was arrested as Bellany embarked on a new relationship and painted several very tender pictures of his second wife Juliet. However, the highly gestural, attacking manner in which he painted the works of the early 1980s, such as the Voyagers II (1982) and Time Will Tell (1982), reflects renewed turbulence in Bellany’s life, including Juliet’s struggle with depression and his own difficulties with alcohol.

In the mid-1980s, following a serious illness and the death of both Juliet and his father, Bellany reunited with his first wife Helen and reconsidered his whole personal life. The paintings of this period are marked by a feeling of reflective calm, and are characterised by a much tighter handling of paint, a lightness of touch and the use of a narrow range of warm yellows, oranges and reds, with blues as a contrast. Perhaps surprisingly, the requiem pictures of 1985 (Requiem for my Father and Adieu, Requiem for Juliet) are not anguished so much as elegiac, sad farewells to loved ones.

In 1987 it became clear that, despite having given up alcohol, Bellany would die without a liver transplant. In spring 1988 he made a remarkable set of drawings and self-portraits that document every step of his near-miraculous recovery and convalescence, following a successful operation performed by Sir Roy Calne. These remarkably honest and occasionally searing depictions (The Addenbrooke’s Hospital Series) are a startling testament to Bellany’s ‘will to draw’, which according to his surgeon, greatly contributed to the speed of his recovery from one of the longest and most complicated operations a person can have. Bellany is now one of the longest surviving liver transplant patients in the UK.

Restored to health, Bellany was fired by a new energy to rival that of his youth. In the early 1990s he once again tackled large canvases with ambitious compositions, such as the sensuous Danäe (A Shower of Gold) Homage to Titian (1991) and Danäe Homage to Rembrandt II (1991) in which he measured himself against the Old Masters he revered. He also returned to the themes he had explored so memorably twenty years earlier – the pleasure of earthly delights and the guilt consciousness in the Calvinist imagination, evident in paintings such as Love’s Sting (c.1990-1).

In 1995 Bellany made a three-month trip to Mexico that was to have a profound effect on his art. His experience of seeing the traditional Day of the Dead celebrations led him to question his whole Calvinist outlook on life and death. In 1998 he bought a house in Tuscany and began to spend part of the year there, living the Italian way of life, which reinforced a more life-affirming, optimistic view of the world. As a result, Bellany’s paintings became brighter and more colourful; the sense of guilt and personal doom was lifted.

In the past decade Bellany has begun to paint more and more landscapes, townscapes and harbour scenes. This was no doubt triggered by his frequent travels to other countries (such as China in 2003), but also by his feeling more at home in Italy, surrounded by glorious countryside, and by his frequent visits to Scotland. In a way this is Bellany coming home, both in terms of subject matter and in terms of a voluptuous use of paint and a new joy in colour.

Over five decades Bellany’s art has seen a dramatic trajectory in part, mirroring his personal life. In his defiant resolve to resist the tide of fashion and to uphold the value of traditional figurative painting, he helped to change the course of painting in the UK. Despite the many developments in his art, and his own brushes with death, he has kept faith with this singular vision, grounding his paintings always in the visible world about him, and expressing his deepest emotional response to it. John Bellany is celebrated around the world today as one of the foremost standard bearers for this vital strand of modern art.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

John Bellany: A Passion for Life has been generously supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

To date the National Galleries of Scotland has received £239,513 from the players of People's Postcode Lottery, and this funding is being used to provide various educational programmes, widening the gallery audience across the country.

Fifth year of ARTIST ROOMS On Tour announced 16 venues will display ARTIST ROOMS in 2013 – 10 new venues taking part

The National Galleries of Scotland and Tate are delighted to announce plans for the fifth ARTIST ROOMS Tour in 2013. New exhibitions and displays will go on show at 16 venues across the UK. The Tour will include 10 venues new to the project, among them two located in the Scottish Borders and one in Morayshire. By the end of 2013, ARTIST ROOMS will have been shown in 54 museums and galleries nationwide and 107 displays and exhibitions will have opened since 2009. ARTIST ROOMS have so far been seen by 21 million people. The tour is made possible thanks to the new support of Arts Council England, the continued support of the Art Fund and, in Scotland, new support from Creative Scotland.

In 2013, ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays will be seen outside London and Edinburgh in Belfast, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Brighton, Falkirk, Findhorn, Galashiels, Hull, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Stoke-on-Trent, Wednesbury, Wolverhampton, Worcester and York.

Over the past year a number of institutions have seen record numbers at ARTIST ROOMS displays. Hepworth Wakefield attracted nearly 128,000 to the Richard Long display, the inaugural Robert Therrien display at the opening of The MAC in Belfast drew 38,000 visitors in less than three months and, at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, 60,000 people have come to see the Andy Warhol display to date.

Highlights of the 2013 tour will include:

The first exhibition of the work of Andy Warhol in Northern Ireland at The MAC in Belfast

Bruce Nauman at York St Mary’s, York’s contemporary art space

Two exhibitions in the Scottish Borders: Robert Therrien in Berwick-upon-Tweed and Robert Mapplethorpe in Galashiels

Martin Creed at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, the first time this group of works will be shown outside Tate or the National Galleries of Scotland

ARTIST ROOMS displays will be shown throughout the year at Tate Modern: Bruce Nauman until 6 October 2013; Laurence Weiner until September 2013; and Joseph Beuys until December 2013.

ARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments.

ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays are from the collection assembled by Anthony d’Offay. ARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. ARTIST ROOMS On Tour has been devised to enable this collection to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people.

Arts Council England

The Arts Council champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, we will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk

The Art Fund

The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art, helping museums and galleries across the UK to acquire great works of art and develop their collections, and encouraging the public to make the most of all there is to see. Over the past five years we have given £24 million to enable over 200 museums, from ancient sculpture and treasure hoards to Old Master paintings and contemporary commissions, and supported a range of programmes which bring art to wider audiences. We awarded £1 million towards the original acquisition of the ARTIST ROOMS collection and have been instrumental in ARTIST ROOMS on Tour since its inception in 2009. We are independently funded and the majority of our income comes from 95,000 members who, through the National Art Pass, enjoy free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off most major exhibitions.

Find out more about the Art Fund and the National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.

Creative Scotland is the national development agency for the arts, screen and creative industries. Our vision is that Scotland will be recognised as one of the world’s most creative nations – one that attracts, develops and retains talent, where the arts and the creative industries are supported and celebrated and their economic contribution fully captured; a nation where the arts and creativity play a central part in the lives, education and well-being of our population. www.creativescotland.com

A new exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery will showcase the key figures of twentieth-century Scottish comedy. In February 2013, Tickling Jock: Comedy Greats from Sir Harry Lauder to Billy Connolly, will bring together images of 50 stars including Lex McLean, John Laurie, Molly Weir, Rikki Fulton, Jack Milroy, Stanley Baxter, Johnny Beattie, Una Maclean and Ronnie Corbett, to celebrate Scotland’s distinctive contribution to the world of entertainment.

Opening with a recording of Lauder’s 1904 song ‘Stop Yer Tickling Jock’, the exhibition will include paintings, photographs, sculpture and archive material charting the comic traditions of the period 1900 - 1975: from the age of music-hall, stage and gramophone through to radio, cinema and television. Lauder first found fame in 1900 and quickly became a major international star and the first British performer to sell a million records. In 1975 Billy Connolly appeared on TV’s Parkinson, in an interview that introduced his infamous sense of humour and catapulted the folk singer and ex-welder to superstardom. From the days of the ‘Scotch Comic’ to the emergence of the ‘Scottish Comedian’, this exhibition will explore the styles, settings and catchphrases that paved the way for laughs today.

Over seventy years the nature of comedy performance had many guises. Tickling Jock charts the history of these rich traditions: character comedians (Harry Gordon and Will Fyffe); clowns (Tommy Lorne and Dave Willis); double acts, (Frank & Doris Droy and Francie & Josie); impressionists and stand-ups (Janet Brown, Chic Murray and Andy Cameron) all make an appearance. Tickling Jock also reveals little known facts, showing Lulu as a TV comedy star and acknowledging opera singer Kenneth McKellar’s contributions to Monty Python.

Works from the Galleries twentieth-century collections will be supported by loans from Scottish venues such as the Scottish Theatre Archive (University of Glasgow), the Citizens Theatre and the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, as well as from private owners. The exhibition will shine a spotlight on entertainers who, between 1900 and 1975, generated laughter as a constant backdrop to the changes of the modern world and laid the foundations for Scottish comedy today.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said:

‘This exhibition presents an exciting prospect for visitors to the Portrait Gallery; Edinburgh hosts the world’s largest arts festival every Summer, and as comedy forms a vital part of it we are delighted to be able to bring together such an incredible homage to those who shaped the way we listen and laugh today. The exhibition will include paintings, photographs, sculpture and archive material from our collection as well as fascinating loans and highlight the national and international impact of the Scottish comedy greats.’

The mysterious giant box which has appeared on the ground floor of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery over the past few weeks will today be unveiled as a laboratory. Specially designed to house artworks created by students at Penicuik High School and James Gillespie’s in Edinburgh, the lab is the setting for Cells: The Smallest of all Portraits, a new display which opens today.

Cells is the product of an experimental learning project organised by the National Galleries of Scotland and the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, which was inspired by the Portrait Gallery’s Pioneers of Science display. In a series of workshops led by professional scientists and artists, the children discovered more about the nature of cells - the smallest and most amazing of all portraits - and a then made a remarkable range of eye-opening and thought-provoking artworks in response to their research.

Groups from both schools visited the Roslin Institute, met scientists and extracted DNA from kiwi fruit. They also worked with visual artists Malcy Duff and Leena Namari over a period of time, responding creatively with a series of artworks on the theme of biomedical science. Experimenting with a range of media, the pupils have created a variety of artworks, all of which reflect their discoveries in the lab.

Visitors can enter the Cells Labto marvel at these ‘microscopic’ portraits, engage with debates about cell science and find out more about life on a cellular level.

Dr Patricia Allerston, National Galleries of Scotland’s Head of Education said:

'Cells is a very exciting new initiative for the National Galleries of Scotland, linking our artworks and young people with the ground-breaking scientific developments happening in Scotland today. We are proud to be displaying the young people’s creative responses in one of our prime gallery spaces in the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery – we can’t think of a better way of highlighting the results of this highly original schools project.'

Young people from both schools will be at the Portrait Gallery on Monday 29 October, 16:00 to be photographed with their work.

A selection of contemporary Scotland’s most famous faces will feature in a new exhibition of photography by K.K. Dundas, which opens at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this week. The 18 portraits on display include the well-known actors Alan Cumming, Elaine C. Smith and Billy Boyd - all former students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the country’s leading school of music, dance and drama. Others images are of recent graduates and current students, such as Katie Leung, who is perhaps best known for her role in the Harry Potter films.

In 2010, to celebrate its 60th anniversary, the Conservatoire commissioned Glasgow-based Dundas, who specialises in theatre and portrait photography, to take portraits of past and present students from the school of drama. This selection of images, presented in collaboration with the Conservatoire, features some of the institution’s most illustrious alumni, from old hands to more recent graduates. Highlights include Dundas’s engaging portraits of actor Bill Paterson, comedienne Ruby Wax and Colin Morgan, star of the BBC TV series Merlin. The majority of works in the display will be on show for the first time, and, all 18 portraits have been generously donated by the photographer to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Leading Lights is part of the season of photography at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this autumn, which also includes Jitka Hanzlová in the Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery, the first UK exhibition from one of the most celebrated photographers working in Europe; and Lucknow to Lahore: Fred Bremner’s Vision of India, a stunning collection of images of the subcontinent from the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century.

A major retrospective exhibition of work by Czech-born photographer, Jitka Hanzlová, will have its only UK showing in The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this autumn. Hanzlová is one of the most significant contemporary photographers in Europe today, producing a body of work that offers a profound investigation of identity in a post-Cold War world. The exhibition brings together around 100 works spanning her career from the early 1990s to the present day. It is curated by Isabel Tejedaand and comes straight to Edinburgh after its showing at FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE in Madrid.

In 1982 Jitka Hanzlová defected from the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and settled in Essen in West Germany, expecting never to see her home again. However, with the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989 she was able to return, inspiring a body of work based on her experiences of two different cultures and political systems. Drawing on her own life story, Hanzlová’s photography subtly explores the ways in which home and surroundings indelibly shape identity. It constitutes an imaginative investigation of ‘belonging’ at the turn of the twentieth century.

Dr Duncan Forbes, Senior Curator of Photography, said:

'We’re thrilled to be staging this major retrospective in Edinburgh, the first time Jitka Hanzlová has exhibited in Scotland. She is one of the most creative photographers working in Europe today. We feel that her penetrating observations of everyday life, not least in the countryside and de-industrialising cities of northern Europe, will have all kinds of echoes for Scottish audiences.'

Hanzlová organises her work in series, beginning with Rokytník, the village in Eastern Bohemia she left in the early 19080s. Of central significance to the photographer, Rokytník is the creative bedrock for everything that follows. Further series examine Hanzlová’s response to everyday life in some of western Europe’s major cities, most notably Essen where she has lived and worked since the 1980s. Urban life for the photographer is often presented as alienating and in a state of constant flux. Her work reveals, for example, the way post-industrial landscapes are slowly reclaimed by nature. In a further major series, Forest, Hanzlová returns to the haunts of her youth, producing a visionary experience through photography of the Czech Republic’s mysterious northern forests. Another original body of work, titled Horses, provides perhaps one of the most powerful renditions of the animal ever seen in the history of photography. Hanzlová’s work is essentially a form of extended portraiture and in a series exhibited for the first time she turns to portrait photography itself; often exploring and echoing Renaissance classics.

Jitka Hanzlová, to be shown in the Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery, follows on from Romantic Camera and Legacy, ending a strong year of photography exhibitions in the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery. It pursues questions of place and identity central to the remit of the Gallery, opening them up into an international context.

The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery, named after the renowned American photographer, is supported by a very generous donation from the The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. This is being used over three years to realise innovative displays, exhibitions and research. The Gallery is the first purpose-built photography space of its kind in a major museum in Scotland.

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For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland Press Office on 0131 624 6325/6247/6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

This exhibition has been organized by FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland.

Notes to Editors.

The exhibition is part of the season of photography at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this autumn, which also includes Lucknow to Lahore: Fred Bremner’s Vision of India, and Leading Lights: Portraits by KK Dundas, which captures many of the stars who have studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow.

Jitka Hanzlová has been exhibited extensively in Europe and North America, including one-person exhibitions at the Museum Folkwang, Essen and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. She is currently also exhibiting in Milan and Berlin.

Awards.

BMW Paris Photo Prize for Contemporary Photography (2007)

Grand Prix de Rencontres d 'Arles (2003),

The European Photography Award: DG Bank in Frankfurt (1996)

The Otto Steinert Award (1993).

FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE, Madrid

FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE is an independent private foundation which carries out general-interest activities through five specialist institutes: Social Welfare; Insurance Sciences; Culture; Health, Prevention and the Environment; and Road Safety.

The Instituto de Cultura offers a broad and coherent programme that includes general-interest cultural projects in the fields of the arts, literature and history, targeted at audiences in Spain, Latin America, Europe and the United States.

The institute has four galleries—three at the FUNDACIÓN headquarters and one in the AZCA business complex—where it hosts a complete range of visual arts and photography exhibitions, which are complemented by encounters with artists and writers, lectures and seminars on a variety of themes held in the foundation’s auditorium.

9 October 2012Scottish National Portrait Gallery premieres major show by award-winning Czech-born photographer, Jitka Hanzlová

A major retrospective exhibition of work by Czech-born photographer, Jitka Hanzlová, will have its only UK showing in The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this autumn. Hanzlová is one of the most significant contemporary photographers in Europe today, producing a body of work that offers a profound investigation of identity in a post-Cold War world. The exhibition brings together around 100 works spanning her career from the early 1990s to the present day. It is curated by Isabel Tejeda and comes straight to Edinburgh after its showing at FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE in Madrid.

In 1982 Jitka Hanzlová defected from the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and settled in Essen in West Germany, expecting never to see her home again. However, with the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989 she was able to return, inspiring a body of work based on her experiences of two different cultures and political systems. Drawing on her own life story, Hanzlová’s photography subtly explores the ways in which home and surroundings indelibly shape identity. It constitutes an imaginative investigation of ‘belonging’ at the turn of the twentieth century.

Dr Duncan Forbes, Senior Curator of Photography, said:

“We’re thrilled to be staging this major retrospective in Edinburgh, the first time Jitka Hanzlová has exhibited in Scotland. She is one of the most creative photographers working in Europe today. We feel that her penetrating observations of everyday life, not least in the countryside and de-industrialising cities of northern Europe, will have all kinds of echoes for Scottish audiences.”

Hanzlová organises her work in series, beginning with Rokytník, the village in Eastern Bohemia she left in the early 1980s. Of central significance to the photographer, Rokytník is the creative bedrock for everything that follows. Further series examine Hanzlová’s response to everyday life in some of western Europe’s major cities, most notably Essen where she has lived and worked since the 1980s. Urban life for the photographer is often presented as alienating and in a state of constant flux. Her work reveals, for example, the way post-industrial landscapes are slowly reclaimed by nature. In a further major series, Forest, Hanzlová returns to the haunts of her youth, producing a visionary experience through photography of the Czech Republic’s mysterious northern forests. Another original body of work, titled Horses, provides perhaps one of the most powerful renditions of the animal ever seen in the history of photography. Hanzlová’s work is essentially a form of extended portraiture and in a series exhibited for the first time she turns to portrait photography itself, often exploring and echoing Renaissance classics.

Jitka Hanzlová, to be shown in the Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery, follows on from Romantic Camera and Legacy, ending a strong year of photography exhibitions in the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery. It pursues questions of place and identity central to the remit of the Gallery, opening them up into an international context.

The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery, named after the renowned American photographer, is supported by a very generous donation from the The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. This is being used over three years to realise innovative displays, exhibitions and research. The Gallery is the first purpose-built photography space of its kind in a major museum in Scotland.

-ENDS-

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland Press Office on 0131 624 6325/6247/6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

This exhibition has been organized by FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland.

Notes to Editors.

The exhibition is part of the season of photography at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this autumn, which also includes Lucknow to Lahore: Fred Bremner’s Vision of India, and Leading Lights: Portraits by KK Dundas, which captures many of the stars who have studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow.

Jitka Hanzlová has been exhibited extensively in Europe and North America, including one-person exhibitions at the Museum Folkwang, Essen and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. She is currently also exhibiting in Milan, Berlin and New York

Press View

Monday 15 October – 11.30- 1pm. Jitka Hanzlová will be available for interview.

Awards.

BMW Paris Photo Prize for Contemporary Photography (2007)

Grand Prix de Rencontres d 'Arles (2003),

The European Photography Award: DG Bank in Frankfurt (1996)

The Otto Steinert Award (1993).

FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE, Madrid

FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE is an independent private foundation which carries out general-interest activities through five specialist institutes: Social Welfare; Insurance Sciences; Culture; Health, Prevention and the Environment; and Road Safety.

The Instituto de Cultura offers a broad and coherent programme that includes general-interest cultural projects in the fields of the arts, literature and history, targeted at audiences in Spain, Latin America, Europe and the United States.

The institute has four galleries—three at the FUNDACIÓN headquarters and one in the AZCA business complex—where it hosts a complete range of visual arts and photography exhibitions, which are complemented by encounters with artists and writers, lectures and seminars on a variety of themes held in the foundation’s auditorium.

3 October 2012Stunning images of Indian Raj to feature in photography season at Scottish National Portrait Gallery

A collection of beautiful and rarely seen photographs, which offers a fascinating insight into the role played by Scots in the British Raj, is to feature in a new exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this week. Lucknow to Lahore: Fred Bremner’s Vision of India will chart the remarkable career of Bremner – a commercial photographer who left Scotland for India in 1882 and spent the next 40 years working there. This selection of 24 outstanding images, beautifully printed by renowned photographer Pradip Malde from the original glass negatives, will offer a rich, personal perspective on the people and places that Bremner encountered.

The exhibition will open a season of photography at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this autumn, which also includes the work of the multi-award-winning Czech-born photographer Jitka Hanzlová, and Leading Lights: Portraits by KK Dundas, which captures many of the stars who have studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow.

Born in 1863 Aberchirder, Aberdeenshire, Fred Bremner began his career in his father’s photographic studio in Banff, before accepting an offer to work with his brother-in-law G W Lawrie, an established photographer in Lucknow, India. His assignments took him across Northern India, and in 1889 he set up his own studio in Karachi, followed by premises in Quetta in Baluchistan, and in Lahore and Rawalpindi in the Punjab. Travelling incessantly over vast distances, and working in rarely photographed areas, Bremner created a captivating record of Imperial India’s rural life, landscapes and people.

The exhibition will help to illustrate how imperial expansion in the nineteenth century provided photographers with a powerful stimulus, as well as great opportunities and rewards, as they followed in the footsteps of colonial armies, traders and adventurers. Of the British territories, India was the most photographed, and the work of men like Bremner provided knowledge that was vital to imperial interests. His photographs both reveal how British India was imagined and reflect the complex attitudes of its rulers.

Portraiture was the core of Bremner’s business, with regular commissions to photograph not only colonial officers and their families but also members of the native aristocracy: his striking portraits of The Khan of Kalat and his Sons (c.1893) and Nawab Sultan Kaikhusrau Jahan, Begum of Bhopal (1858-1930) (c.1920) are among the highlights of the exhibition. Like many commercial photographers, however, Bremner also found time to complete personal projects. His fascination with the diversity of local customs and his determination to record them can be seen in memorable images of fishermen on the River Indus and the dramatic River crossing, River Jhelum, Kashmir (c.1896).

A skilled craftsman himself, Bremner produced a series of large glass plate negatives showing Indian artisans at work. His photographs of woodcarvers and carpet-makers hint at the material wealth that placed India at the heart of Britain’s colonial economy.

The exhibition will also look at how Bremner (like many of his contemporaries) sought to transpose a European conception of the picturesque onto his photographs the Indian landscape.

Speaking of the exhibition, Sheila Asante, Migration Stories Curator at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said, “This is a fantastic opportunity to catch a glimpse of rarely seen images of the Indian Empire. Fred Bremner was one of the first photographers to capture the very north-western edge of the British Raj. An accomplished photographer, he had an eye for dynamic compositions. This intimate exhibition of his work offers an extraordinary insight into how one Scot viewed ‘that far off land known as the Indian Empire’.”

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to announce a major exhibition bringing together works from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, one of the most important collections of contemporary art with major works from the Scottish national collection. This innovative exhibition, curated by Keith Hartley, Chief Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, comprises over 120 works and will create a new and dynamic context for both collections.

Amongst the common themes that run through the extensive holdings of the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, the notion of the body as a source of creativity and the vessel of existential, social and ideological struggle is a compelling and repeatedly examined motif. This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to explore the many and varied approaches that artists have taken across several decades when dealing with this most fundamental of subjects. The idea of the body has a special resonance with the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art collection. As well as the substantial holdings of work by Joseph Beuys, from which the title to the exhibition is taken, the Gallery also houses a rich collection of works by modern, and in particular surrealist and dada, artists, such as Bellmer, Balthus, Otto Dix, Magritte and Picasso, for whom the body was a powerful theme.

The exhibition will be displayed in pairings or as groups with works from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to draw out commonalities and differences between both collections. Through exciting and often surprising configurations, the exhibition will stage confrontations between the past and present, sculpture and painting, expressive and minimal forms to illuminate the diverse ways in which artists have approached the subject of the body. Audiences can therefore encounter a work of expressive power by a contemporary artist in a room otherwise dedicated to classic figurative paintings by some of the giants of modern art, a visceral sculpture by Louise Bourgeois alongside the work of Marcel Duchamp or juxtapositions between Rachel Whiteread’s contemplative objects with the performative and transformative work of Bruce Nauman.

Since 1994, the D.Daskalopoulos Collection has developed an extraordinary and rich body of iconic artworks that collectively express a personal vision and sensibility informed by the artistic practice of recent decades. Many of the most significant names in post-war and contemporary art are represented - figures whose output and ideas have shaped the way in which subsequent generations of artists have developed and others continue to emerge.

Dr. Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art comments: “We are delighted to be working with the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, and the opportunity to showcase the national collection alongside this world-class collection is a major coup for the SNGMA. It allows us to show the very best of international contemporary art to the Scottish public whilst continuing our innovative use of the collection to produce a show that will be daring, surprising and of international significance.”

Some 60 works of contemporary art by over twenty artists have been selected from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection including pieces by internationally renowned artists such as Marina Abramovic, Matthew Barney, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Helen Chadwick, Marcel Duchamp, Robert Gober, Paul McCarthy, Ana Mendieta, Mike Kelley, Sarah Lucas and Paul McCarthy. The exhibition will highlight the significance of the body as a theme in twentieth and twenty-first century art practice and will enable audiences to view many world-class artworks that have never before been seen in Scotland.

A fully illustrated catalogue will be published in both Greek and English to accompany the exhibition.

Dimitris Daskalopoulos is an entrepreneur and Chairman of DAMMA Holdings SA, a financial services and investment company. He has been Chairman of the Board of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) since 2006. From 1983 to 2007 he was the president and CEO of Delta Holdings/Vivartia SA, Greece’s largest food conglomerate. He is a collector of contemporary art, member of the Board of Trustees of the Guggenheim Foundation and active in the Tate International Council and the Leadership Council of the New Museum. Thematic exhibitions based on his collection have been presented at the Whitechapel Gallery, London and the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.

19 September 2012Major Man Ray exhibition to tour to Edinburgh in summer 2012

• Includes works never before exhibited in the UK including studies of Barbette, Catherine Deneuve, Ava Gardner, Lee Miller and Kiki de Montparnasse.

A major photographic exhibition, Man Ray Portraits, opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 7 February 2012. Devoted to one of the most innovative and influential artists of his generation, the exhibition will include over 150 vintage prints from Man Ray’s career taken between 1916 and 1968. Drawn from private collections and major museums including the Pompidou Centre, the J. Paul Getty Museum and New York’s The Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, and special loans from the Man Ray Trust Archive, a majority of the works have not previously been exhibited in the UK.

Portraits of Man Ray’s celebrated contemporaries will be shown in the exhibition alongside his personal and often intimate portraits of friends, lovers and his social circle. His versatility and experimentation as an artist is illustrated throughout all of his photography although this was never his chosen principal artistic medium. The exhibition brings together photographic portraits of cultural figures and friends including Marcel Duchamp, Berenice Abbott, Andre Breton, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, James Joyce, Erik Satie, Henri Matisse, Barbette, Igor Stravinsky, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dali, Le Corbusier, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, Coco Chanel and Wallis Simpson. Also on show will be portraits of his lovers Kiki de Montparnasse (Alice Prin) and Lee Miller who was also his assistant, Ady Fidelin, and his last muse and wife Juliet Browner.

Philadelphia born Man Ray (1890 – 1976) spent his early life in New York, turning down a scholarship to study architecture in order to devote himself to painting. He initially taught himself photography in order to reproduce his works of art but in 1920 he began to work as a portrait photographer to fund his artwork. In 1915, whilst at Ridgefield artist colony in New Jersey, he met the French artist Marcel Duchamp and together they tried to establish New York Dada. His friendship with Duchamp led to Man Ray’s move to Paris in 1921, where, as a contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, he was perfectly placed to make defining images of his contemporaries from the avant-garde. In this period he was instrumental in developing and producing a type of photogram which he called ‘Rayographs’, and is credited in inventing, alongside his lover and collaborator Lee Miller, the process of solarisation. The use of solarisation can be seen in the portraits of Elsa Schiaparelli, Irene Zurkinden, Lee Miller, Suzy Solidor and his own Self-Portrait with Camera included in the exhibition.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Man Ray left France for the US and took up residence in Hollywood. Although officially devoting himself once more to painting, new research has revealed Man Ray made a number of significant photographic portraits during his Hollywood years, and several are shown for the first time in this exhibition. Film star subjects included Ruth Ford, Paulette Goddard, Ava Gardner, Tilly Losch and Dolores del Rio. Returning to Paris in 1951 he again made the city his home until his death in 1976. His portraits from the 1950s include experiments with colour photography such as his portraits of Juliette Greco and Yves Montand and the exhibition closes with his portrait of film star Catherine Deneuve from 1968.

Man Ray Portraits will tour to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from 22 June – 8 September 2013 and the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow from 14 October 2013 – 19 January 2014.

PUBLICATIONA fully-illustrated 224 page hardback catalogue, Man Ray Portraits, accompanies the exhibition. The catalogue includes an introductory essay by Marina Warner, Professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex, and a writer of fiction, criticism and history, and an extensive illustrated chronology by Helen Trompeteler, Assistant Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery. Price £35 (hardback).

For further press information and image requests please contact: Eleanor Macnair, Press Office, National Portrait Gallery Tel: 020 7321 6620 (not for publication) Email: emacnair@npg.org.uk. Please note that the rights to Man Ray’s works are managed by DACS and so images will not be available for download from the web-site, and only directly from the press office.

The first exhibition to explore Pablo Picasso’s lifelong connections with Britain will be the highlight of this year’s Festival programme at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Picasso & Modern British Art will bring together 150 works from major public and private collections around the world, including some 60 outstanding paintings, drawings and prints by Picasso. This stunning exhibition, which has been organised in partnership with Tate Britain, where it was shown to great acclaim this spring, will trace the evolution of the artists’ critical reputation in Britain, and demonstrate his profound influence on British artists, through the example of major figures such as Francis Bacon and Henry Moore.

Picasso instigated many of the most significant developments of twentieth-century art and masterpieces from every period of his career will feature in the exhibition, including his landmark painting, The Three Dancers 1925 (Tate), which the artist considered one of his two greatest works. Also on show will be Head of a Man 1912 (Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris), one of several works that introduced Cubism to Britain when they were included in an exhibition organised by the critic Roger Fry in 1912. Other highlights will include Picasso’s Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle 1914, (National Gallery, London, on loan to Tate); a playful late-Cubist work, Guitar, Compote Dish and Grape, 1924 (Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam); and a powerful example from Picasso’s late career, Woman Dressing her Hair 1940 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).

The exhibition will explore Picasso’s rise in Britain as a figure of both controversy and celebrity, tracing the ways in which his work was exhibited and collected here during his lifetime, and revealing the extent to which the British engagement with his art was much deeper and more varied than generally has been appreciated.

The work of Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson, Moore, Bacon, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney - seven British artists for whom Picasso proved an important stimulus - will illustrate the artist’s enormous impact on twentieth-century modernism in this country, as well as the variety and vitality of British artists’ responses to his work over a period of more than seventy years. Works by each artist, carefully chosen to illustrate a specific feature of their dialogue with Picasso, will be shown. In Edinburgh, the exhibition will include an additional element that reveals Picasso’s influence on Scottish artists Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde.

The exhibition will also consider the significance of British collector Roland Penrose, who became intimately associated with the artist and his reputation. Penrose organised the phenomenally successful survey of Picasso’s career at the Tate in 1960, and was instrumental in persuading the artist to sell The Three Dancers to the Tate in 1965. His outstanding collection included the iconic Weeping Woman, 1937 (Tate) as well as Guitar, Gas-Jet and Bottle, and Tête, both 1913, which are now in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. In 1994 the Gallery also acquired the extensive Penrose archive, and a range of material from this extraordinarily rich resource will be on show in Edinburgh.

Other fascinating aspects of Picasso’s relationship to Britain will be considered in depth, including a section devoted to costume and scenery designs for a production of The Three-Cornered Hat by the Ballet Russes, which Picasso created during a ten-week stay in London in 1919. The show will also assess the significance of Picasso’s political status in Britain, from the 1938-9 tour of Guernica, his celebrated response to the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, to his appearance at the 1950 Peace Congress in Sheffield. The final section will consider the artist’s post-war reputation, from the widespread hostility provoked by an exhibition of paintings by Picasso and Matisse at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1945-6, to the triumphant Tate retrospective fifteen years later.

During the Festival, the new Scottish National Portrait Gallery invites families to limber up for its sports-tastic Portrait Gallery Games. From Sunday 29 July and throughout August, children aged 4+ and their families can come down to the Portrait Gallery, on Queen Street, Edinburgh, every day for fun-filled afternoons of FREE sports-inspired art events, including the chance to win a gold medal and stand proud on the Portrait Gallery Winner’s Podium.

The sports-inspired art events funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery include photography, print-making, flag-designing, clay-modelling, puppet-making and animation – each completed event (either done all on one day or through repeat visits during August) is recorded and contributes towards a medal. Participants will be able to pledge allegiance to a charismatic team captain from a line-up of popular characters from the gallery’s art collection – Mary, Queen of Scots, Robert Burns, Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie - and can keep track of how their team is faring by monitoring our online medal league table.

National Galleries of Scotland has to date received £239,513 from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, with the funding being used to provide various educational programmes, widening the gallery audience across the country.

People’s Postcode Lottery Head of Charities Clara Govier commented

'In the school holidays, families across the country are looking for ways to entertain the children this summer. The Olympic-inspired games being organised by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, provides a fantastic, free opportunity for families to have fun all the while learning about the importance of art to our nation.'

The whole Portrait Gallery art-meets-sport extravaganza kicks off on Sunday 29 July, between 2 – 4pm, with madcap interactive performance team Mischief La Bas bringing their trademark character storytelling to the Portrait Gallery. From MC Donald Dinnie, Captain Allardice and rock-climbing the west stairs, the Portrait Gallery is set to come alive each and every Sunday, with the following weeks hosting hilarious storytelling duo Macastory and special themed sessions of Portrait Detectives.

Ends.

For further information and images, please call the National Galleries of Scotland Press Office on 0131 624 6247/ 325/ 332/ 314pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

Notes to Editors:

Exhibitions at the Portrait Gallery the summer, include two sports-based exhibitions:

Playing for Scotland, 1 December 2011 – 31 December 2012,

This display traces the transformation of sport during the nineteenth century when traditional games flourished and new sports were invented. From football to fishing, canoeing to curling, hunting to hockey, this sporting revolution is illustrated through paintings, photographs and prints and a specially-commissioned film.

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Today, 2 July 2012, Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh will visit the recently renovated Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. The Portrait Gallery re-opened on 1 December 2011 to great acclaim and was shortlisted for the prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year Award 2012. Since the reopening, the Portrait Gallery has attracted nearly 240,000 visitors and both the sensitive restoration of the building and the new approaches to displaying the world-class collection have attracted considerable praise at home and abroad. The Queen will visit some of the new displays and will meet some of the key donors and supporters of the project.

Ben Thomson, Chairman, National Galleries of Scotland commented: "The refurbished Portrait Gallery has been an astonishing success and the public have clearly responded very warmly to the new approaches to displaying the collections. We are honoured and delighted that The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will have an opportunity to visit and for us to thank some of our supporters in person. This will be a very special day."

The ambitious £17.6 million project was funded by generous contributions from the Scottish Government, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Monument Trust and a number of charitable bodies. It has revitalised the interior of the Portrait Gallery and showcases an entirely new presentation of its world-famous collection. This was the first major refurbishment in the Gallery’s 120-year history and has restored much of the founders’ original vision, opening up previously inaccessible parts of the building and increased the public space by more than 60 percent. It has also added a range of new facilities that has utterly transformed the visitor’s experience of the Gallery. Entry to the new Portrait Gallery is completely free and in just 7 months has achieved 80% of its annual target of 300,000.

One of the highlights of the Royal Visit will be a stop to admire the new donor window designed and produced by Alison Kinnaird MBE and commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to thank the generous donors who contributed to the refurbishment project. The window took three years to create and includes twelve portraits of major benefactors and fourteen further roundels representing various trusts and foundations. A portrait of The Queen sits at the apex, below which are heraldic shields representing the Scottish Government and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The window is positioned alongside one installed in 1891 which includes portraits of the gallery’s original donor, John Ritchie Findlay; architect, Sir Robert Rowand Anderson; and Queen Victoria.

On her visit, The Queen will also have a preview of a newly-commissioned portrait of F1 driving legend Sir Jackie Stewart; Sir Jackie will also be in attendance. This work is a collaboration by two artists, portrait painter Theo Platt and motorsport artist Michael Turner. Platt depicts Sir Jackie at the height of his racing career and the background, by Turner, includes emblems and images which evoke the cars and settings associated with some of this sporting legend’s greatest triumphs.

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries Press Office on 0131 624 6325/6247/6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

Acclaim for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

“This is a museum of and for the people…from the last crofters on St Kilda’s to the latest immigrants”

Laura Cumming, The Observer, 4/12/2011

“ …the gallery, under director James Holloway, is determined to present a portrait, not just of Scotland’s most significant people but Scotland itself….The beautiful central hall, with its elaborate frieze and frescoes depicting Scottish historical figures, has been carefully restored.” Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian, 26/11/2011

“122 years after its birth, [the] Scottish National Portrait Gallery has claimed its rightful space in a way that puts other museums to shame.” Duncan Macmillan, The Scotsman 29/11/2011

“A stunning facelift at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh sheds new light on old glories” Richard Dorment, The Daily Telegraph 13/12/2011

“The exhibits are likewise a delight, and manage to amount to much more than a sum of their parts.” Mike Wade, The Times, 29/11/2011

“The Judges found the Gallery a moving and inspiring place, and above all they felt the ambition and careful thought dedicated to considering what a portrait gallery should be in a modern world was quite remarkable. They relished the journey through the beautiful galleries, travelling through eras and themes, and seeing portraits set beside other works identifying elements of the nation. This is a place of learning and real enjoyment.” Lord Smith of Finsbury, Chair of the Art Fund Prize, 19/06/12

Further information on Donor Window and Alison Kinnaird MBEAlison Kinnaird MBE was commissioned to create a window to mark the contributions of generous donors to the recent refurbishment of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

- The brief was to create a contemporary art work which would mirror the layout of the original Victorian commemorative window. She was also requested to continue the botanical theme which runs throughout the building.

- The Donor Window has taken 3 years to create. It includes 12 portraits of major benefactors and that of the Queen.

- For the garlands surrounding the portraits, each donor chose flowers with a personal or symbolic significance.

- Ten charitable trusts and other organisations are represented by a ‘bouquet of thanks’, of flowers of their own choice.

- The Scottish Government and the Heritage Lottery Fund are represented by heraldic shields.

- The small figures which feature in a drift down and across the window, represent the people of Scotland – it is their Portrait Gallery.

Alison Kinnaird MBE, designed the window, drew the portraits and engraved them on flashed glass, using the ancient copper-wheel technique in a completely new and innovative way, invented for this project. She works from her studio in a converted church in Temple, Midlothian. Her work is already represented in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery by a portrait of the ornithologist, Roy Dennis.

Patrick Ross-Smith, a respected stained-glass artist from Shetland, assembled and installed the window. He also sourced the glass and prepared it for Alison Kinnaird to engrave, and contributed invaluable advice relating to colour and technical problems. Ross-Smith transported the glass on the back of his motorbike from Shetland to Midlothian several times.

Alison Kinnaird and Patrick Ross-Smith have worked together in the past on a number of projects including panels for Lord Bute at Mount Stuart and a window for Dornoch Cathedral.

Biography of Sir Jackie Stewart OBE

Before winning the Formula One motor racing World Championship three times, Sir Jackie Stewart was an international clay pigeon shooting champion. Taught by his gamekeeper grandfather and father, Stewart has been passionate about shooting since boyhood. At the height of his shooting career, he won the British, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English Championships and won the Coupe de Nations in 1959 and 1960.

As a keen mechanic, Sir Jackie was drawn to the world of motorsport after retiring from shooting in 1962. With the support of his wife, Sir Jackie began to dominate British Club racing. His career took off internationally in 1965 when he partnered Graham Hill in the BRM F1 team and in May that year he won his first Grand Prix race at Monza and finished 3rd in the World Championship. During his career, Sir Jackie was crowned three-time F1 World Champion and achieved a total of 27 Grand Prix victories out of 99 races over the course of his career, including wins in Monaco in 1966, 1971 and 1973. Sir Jackie crafted a racing record that would stand for 14 years, and to this day he is still one of the top five drivers of all time.

During his career, Sir Jackie was engaged in a partnership with Ford Motor Company spanning over 40 years. He also campaigned on behalf of governments from all over the world for road safety, driver education, compulsory seat belt wearing and crash helmet legislation. After retiring from professional motor racing in 1973, Sir Jackie founded Paul Stewart Racing and Stewart Grand Prix, which was later sold to Ford and renamed Jaguar Racing. He remained on the board of Jaguar Racing until his decision to step down in 2000. Sir Jackie has been under contract to Moet & Chandon for more than 43 years and with Rolex for 44 years.

Sir Jackie is now strategic advisor to the Genii Business Exchange who own the Lotus F1 Team. He has been recognised for his service to both motorsport and the motor manufacturing industry with an OBE in 1972 and a knighthood in 2001. Sir Jackie is married to Lady Helen Stewart; together they have two sons, Mark and Paul, and nine grandchildren.

The work of one of the most gifted landscape painters of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries will be the subject of a fascinating major exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery this summer. This will be the first exhibition ever to be devoted to Giovanni Battista Lusieri (1754–1821) an artist who was widely acclaimed in his lifetime but whose work has been undeservedly overlooked in the last 200 years. Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars, much of Lusieri’s life-story reads like a film script; he was employed by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, was closely involved with the removal of the Elgin Marbles from Greece to Britain and tragically, a large proportion of the artist’s later work was destroyed at sea after his death, leaving his reputation to descend into obscurity. This exhibition will present the most spectacular and best preserved of Lusieri’s surviving work, with outstanding loans and documentary material to introduce a 21st century audience to a long-forgotten artistic genius.

One of very few Italian artists of this period to adopt watercolour as his favoured medium, Lusieri often worked on an ambitious scale, combining a broad, panoramic vision, an uncanny ability to capture brilliant Mediterranean light and a meticulous, almost photographic attention to detail. This exhibition will bring together about 85 watercolours and drawings, plus his only two known works in oil.

Lusieri worked principally as a painter of topographical views and close-up views of ancient monuments. He was passionately dedicated to working directly from nature, and unlike most of his contemporaries who worked in watercolour, insisted wherever possible on colouring his drawings outside, on the spot.

Recent research has established that Lusieri was born in Rome in 1754, but little is known about his artistic education. In 1782 Lusieri moved to Naples, where his career blossomed. He received commissions from Queen Maria Carolina, from the influential British diplomat Sir William Hamilton, and from a host of visiting tourists, the majority of them British. It was for Hamilton that Lusieri created his single most ambitious watercolour, the nine-foot-wide Bay of Naples from Palazzo Sessa, which is being lent to the exhibition by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. His beautiful views of Vesuvius erupting by moonlight were amongst his most popular works and they exist in numerous versions, some of which are in the exhibition.

With the advance of Napoleon’s troops down the Italian peninsula, Lusieri headed south to Sicily in 1798 or 1799, working at Palermo, Taormina and Agrigento. It was while he was in Sicily that Lusieri was engaged by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, to accompany him on his embassy to the Ottoman court in Constantinople, and he spent the second half of his career mainly in Athens as Lord Elgin’s resident artist and agent. In that capacity he was closely involved in supervising the removal, packing and transport of the celebrated marbles from the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis. He also undertook excavations for his patron elsewhere. His commitment to these archaeological activities left him much less time for his art, and very few finished works from his twenty years in Greece survive. He did commence many views of Athens and its surroundings, some of them very large indeed, but these were detailed outline drawings without the addition of colour. After his death, a large proportion of Lusieri’s work was lost when the ship transporting it back to Britain was wrecked off Crete in 1828. By that date Lord Elgin had already purchased from Lusieri’s heirs the mass of watercolours and drawings from the artist’s Italian years that he left behind when he joined Elgin’s embassy.

One of Lusieri’s two surviving paintings in oil, the Monument to Philopappos, was acquired by the Scottish National Gallery in 2007, to add to the two rare Greek watercolours by him already in the collection. The present Earl of Elgin will very generously lend more than half of the works in the exhibition. Many of the exhibits are previously unpublished, including numerous works of the highest quality, and much new light will be shed on technical aspects of his production. The accompanying catalogue will be the first substantial publication on the artist in English.

Expanding Horizons: Giovanni Battista Lusieri and the Panoramic Landscape will aim to re-establish this artist’s reputation as one of the most gifted landscape watercolourists of all time.

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For further information and images, please call the Press Office on 0131 624 6247/325/ 332/ 314

pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

www.nationalgalleries.org

Notes to Editor:

The richly illustrated, hard backed catalogue is priced at £24.95 and will be available to purchase at National Galleries of Scotland shops and online.

A powerful and thought-provoking installation by renowned Scottish artist Roderick Buchanan, which considers the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, is to open at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this summer. Legacy explores the strong traditions and cultural connections that link communities in Scotland and Northern Ireland, by following two Scottish flute bands as they prepare for and take part in Loyalist and Republican parades in 2009 and 2010. Commissioned by the IWM, the work was first shown at IWM London, to considerable acclaim, in 2011.

Reflecting Buchanan’s interest in issues of identity and belonging, Legacy is a unique and intimate portrait of the Glasgow-based bands – Parkhead Republican Flute Band and Black Skull Corps of Fife and Drum – which creates a balanced and honest representation of both Loyalist and Republican communities. This sympathetic work, which comprises two films, shown simultaneously, and a series of photographic portraits, examines the lasting significance of the Troubles, as well as the social, political and economic changes that followed the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Born in Glasgow in 1965, Buchanan has a long-standing relationship with both bands, first established when they were the focus his 2007 film I am Here, which was shown as part of Glasgow City Council’s social justice programme on sectarianism. His non-partisan, non-judgmental approach encouraged their participation in this larger project, and has given him unprecedented access to the bands and their supporters.

Scots Irish / Irish Scots, the films at the centre of Legacy, are shown simultaneously on two screens, placed side-by-side but with a dividing partition that allows the viewer to watch either film in isolation, or both together. The films are shown in a ‘pendulum edit’ - which gives one screen sound while the other is silent - and follow the bands as they take part in parades to mark the 320th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Londonderry, in 2009, and the annual Easter Rising commemoration in Derry in 2010.

While one band performs the other bandsmen are shown at rest, creating, through an accumulation of incidental detail, a vivid impression of the days’ events. The films are complemented by studio portraits of the current band members plus an account by Buchanan of his work on the project, as well as interviews with the leaders of both bands, in a catalogue published by the Imperial War Museum.

Commenting on the exhibition, Roderick Buchanan said: ‘My proposal was to make a portrait with grass-roots activists who had lived through the Troubles, processed what the Good Friday Agreement meant for them, and who continued to march and stand up for what they believe. The challenges were largely in creating the right environment where people felt comfortable allowing a film crew in beside them as they paraded at events that were so important to them. It’s been an extraordinary opportunity to work with groups of people who take the lead communicating their values and beliefs in public. I hope the films are well received and valued as an honest representation of the bandsmen’s experience.’

Nicola Kalinsky, Interim Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, added: ‘Legacy is an immersive and visually stunning installation. As a complex and multi-faceted portrait of a challenging subject, it fits perfectly within our remit to explore issues of identity and belonging which affect us all, both now and in the very recent past. We are delighted to be showing this major work by Roderick Buchanan.’

-ends-

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland’s press office on 0131 624 6247 / 6325 / 6314 / 6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

The first exhibition ever to be devoted to Symbolist Landscape will be the highlight of the Festival programme at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh this summer. Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910, which is sponsored by BNY Mellon, will bring together some 70 outstanding landscapes by 54 artists of the avant-garde, including masterpieces by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Munch, Monet, Whistler, Mondrian and Kandinsky. The exhibition will also introduce the public to a group of less well known artists from Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe, such as Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Jacek Malczewski.

Symbolism was a radical movement of artists, poets, writers and composers that emerged in reaction to the industrial expansion and materialism of late-19th century Europe. Symbolist artists abandoned the direct representation of nature or reality, creating instead a vision of the world drawn from the imagination. Their work explored powerful themes that reflected the anxieties and uncertainties of the age, including a fascination with death, dreams and the unconscious, fears about scientific advances and a questioning of man’s place in the world. Symbolist painting embraced a broad range of styles, and was closely linked to literature and other artforms; the relationship between art and music - a major preoccupation for some artists - will be a significant underlying theme of the exhibition.

Originating in France and Belgium, the movement took root across the continent. As well as illustrating the geographical reach of Symbolism, the exhibitionwill also trace the development of the movement over a thirty-year period, starting with precursors such as Böcklin and Whistler, working in the 1870s and 80s, to Mondrian and Kandinsky, whose variations on landscape themes just before the First World War helped push their work into abstraction.

Speaking of the exhibition, Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery said:

‘This is a surprising and thought-provoking show which casts a new light on landscape painting in Europe at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Its scope is truly European and brings together both well-known figures and exciting rediscoveries in a dramatic re-examination of this highly inventive period in European art.’

‘Edinburgh is a key location for BNY Mellon and it is our privilege to be able to support this landmark show and the Scottish National Gallery. The National Gallery’s outstanding commitment to public access and education very much reflects the key principles that inform our own international programme of arts sponsorship, and I have no doubt that this unique and diverse exhibition will prove a huge success for both the Gallery and the city of Edinburgh itself.’

Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910 has been organised in partnership with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam - where it has already been inspiring and impressing audiences with the sheer range and quality of works on show – and the Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki. It will bring together loans from prestigious institutions across Europe and the USA, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Musée d'Orsay, Paris; the Neue Pinakothek, Munich and the Russian Museum, St Petersburg. Some world-famous works will be shown for the first time ever in Scotland, including Van Gogh’s Sower, an exclusive loan from Amsterdam, and Kandinsky’s Cossacks from Tate, London.

The show’s six themes will give the viewer a chance to explore different aspects of Symbolism and to consider how far-reaching and influential its ideas were. The exhibition opens with the dream-world of Arcadia, featuring a group of dark, brooding landscapes on the theme of death and destruction. Drawing on Greek history and mythology, Leon Bakst’s awesome Terror Antiquus offers a dramatic bird’s eye view of a Grecian archipelago at the mercy of the gods.

The next room Moods of Nature focuses on the lakes and forests of Scandinavia and Finland. Prins Eugen’s Forest becomes a metaphor for the journey through life, while Gallen-Kallela’s Lake Keitele suggests links with the Finnish national epic the Kalevala.

Moving from the natural world to the urban, the section on Silent Cities expresses the Symbolists’ disillusionment with the modern city which they saw as claustrophobic, isolating and threatening. Artists and writers focused instead on the mysterious beauty of cities such as Venice and Bruges. Works such as Fernand Khnopff’s Bruges: The Lac d’Amour and Whistler’s St Mark’s Square, Venice are tinged with nostalgia.

Gauguin’s Vision of the Sermon - lauded by the critic Albert Aurier as the first symbolist painting – and Van Gogh’s Sower are two of the highlights of Dreams and Visions, a group of landscapes that look beneath the surface of visible reality into the world of dreams and the subconscious.

The next room, Rhythms of Nature addresses the metaphysical, as well as the uncertainties of a world in flux - expressed in works such as the Spanish artist Joaquim Mir’s Abyss - while Van Gogh’s Reaper explores the artist’s preoccupation with death, as well as the cycle of the seasons.

Finally, the exhibition reaches a triumphant conclusion in a group of uplifting images; Towards Abstraction includes Mondrian’s landscapes of Domburg, and works by Kandinsky, who made connections between colour, music and emotion.

This exciting exhibition will give audiences an insight into the rich diversity of art in Europe at the turn of the twentieth century and is certain to provide an awe-inspiring experience.

BNY Mellon is a global financial services company focused on helping clients manage and service their financial assets, operating in 36 countries and serving more than 100 markets. BNY Mellon is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals, offering superior investment management and investment services through a worldwide client-focused team. It has $26.6 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $1.3 trillion in assets under management, services $11.9 trillion in outstanding debt and processes global payments averaging $1.4 trillion per day. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com or follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.

Catalogue available to accompany this exhibition: Van Gogh to Kandinksy: Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910. National Galleries of Scotland & Mercatorfonds.

The Press View for Van Gogh to Kandinksy: Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910 will be held on Wednesday 11 July 11.30 – 1.00pm at the Scottish National Gallery. Please contact the National Galleries of Scotland press office for more information.

24 May 2012Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Funds Photography Space in the New Scottish National Portrait Gallery

THE ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE FOUNDATION FUNDS PHOTOGRAPHY SPACE IN THE NEW SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) is delighted to announce that The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation has made a major donation to the new Photography Gallery in the recently refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. The Foundation is giving a total of $300,000 (£190,000) over the next three years, which will be used to support innovative displays, exhibitions, research and related publications in the new space.

The Photography Gallery, which is the first purpose-built photography space of its kind in a major museum in Scotland, will now be called The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery after the renowned American photographer. The Foundation has supported NGS in the past with assistance on the major retrospective of the artist’s work at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2006 and through its assistance in helping to create a major holding of Mapplethorpe in ARTIST ROOMS, a collection of modern and contemporary art owned jointly by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland and established through The Anthony d’Offay Donation in 2008. Works within ARTIST ROOMS tour the United Kingdom in rooms devoted to individual artists. Works by Mapplethorpe have toured with ARTIST ROOMS to various venues in Scotland including Inverness Art Gallery and Museum and they are currently on display at Dunoon Burgh Hall (28 March to 8 July) before travelling to Linlithgow Burgh Halls (20 July to 28 October) and then to Perth Museum and Art Gallery (10 November to 27 April 2013).

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland commented: 'The photography collections at the NGS count among the finest anywhere in the world. This extremely generous grant from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation will help us to unlock the potential of these holdings and create new and engaging displays of international quality. We are enormously grateful to the Mapplethorpe Trustees for helping us to bring world-class photography to a wider audience in this country.'

Michael Ward Stout, President of The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation commented: 'Our board of directors is delighted to have the opportunity to further the goals of such a distinguished facility of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. After getting to know the NGS, and its very impressive Director, John Leighton, we can think of no better European presence for our engagement.'

The exhibitions planned for The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery include a display devoted to the work of Czech photographer, Jitka Hanzlová (17 October 2012 to 3 February 2013) and an exhibition of work by Edith Tudor-Hart. This will be the first full retrospective of the photography of Edith Tudor-Hart, one of the most significant documentary photographers of the 1930s. Bringing together work shot in Vienna, London, Wales and Scotland, it will bring to light some of the most powerful photography of the Depression era and explore the double life of Tudor-Hart as photographer and Soviet agent.

2006 The Foundation supported the major Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

2008 NGS received a donation of $60,000 from the Foundation towards conservation, cataloguing and research activities

2008 The Foundation played an important role in the acquisition of ARTIST ROOMS from The Anthony d’Offay Donation

2012 Donation of $300,000 (£190,000) for The Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

Robert Mapplethorpe established the not-for-profit Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation on May 27, 1988, some ten months before his death, to protect his work, to advance his creative vision and to promote the causes he cared about. In establishing the Foundation’s philanthropic mandate, Mapplethorpe targeted the two areas of his greatest concern: support of medical research in the area of HIV/AIDS, and furthering the recognition of photography as an art form equal in importance as painting and sculpture. After his death and in keeping with Mapplethorpe's wishes, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation has funded numerous publications on photography, supported exhibitions at various art institutions, and provided grants to arts institutions, ranging from the world's major art museums to small university galleries. It established the Guggenheim Museum’s photography program and collection; and recently made arrangements for the artist’s archive to be placed with the Getty Research Institute and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Mapplethorpe Foundation has also spent millions of dollars to fund medical research in the fight against AIDS and HIV infection by establishing research and care centers at major medical facilities such as Harvard University and Beth Israel in New York.

The Photography Collections at the National Galleries of Scotland

The Photography Collection at the National Galleries of Scotland was first set up in 1984, to collect, research and exhibit Scottish and international photography. It was established in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, on the basis of the critical collection of calotype photographs by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. Since its establishment, the collection has grown to around 38,000 photographs from the beginnings of photography to the present day. This growth is mainly due to the generous collectors and photographers, who have given work to the nation.

15 May 2012New Director of Scottish National Portrait Gallery Announced

The Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland announced today, 15 May 2012, the appointment of Christopher Baker as the new Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. He will take up his position at the Portrait Gallery on 1 August 2012. His selection followed an international search led by the recruitment company Odgers Berndtson.

Mr Baker has been Deputy Director of the Scottish National Gallery since 2003 and was previously Curator at Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford. He enjoys an international reputation as a scholar-curator and has organised some of the Scottish National Gallery’s most successful exhibitions, such as The Discovery of Spain and Turner and Italy (both 2009), and written the Gallery’s permanent collection catalogue of English Drawings and Watercolours 1600-1900 (2011). He sits on advisory boards at the University of St Andrews and the National Gallery, London, and has contributed to numerous art historical publications, including The Burlington Magazine.

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland said: 'This vacancy was hotly contested by a strong field of candidates from this country and from abroad. Christopher Baker has an extremely impressive record as a curator and a manager who has combined scholarly depth with a broad popular appeal in his work for the Galleries. We are delighted that he has emerged as the outstanding leader to build on the recent successes of the newly-re-opened Portrait Gallery.'

Ben Thomson, Chairman of the Trustees of NGS said: 'It is a hard act for anyone to follow James Holloway who transformed the Portrait Gallery and made it into one of Scotland’s best-loved cultural institutions. The Board is confident that Christopher will be an inspiring new leader for the Gallery who with freshness and vigour will be able to build on our aspirations for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to be at the centre of Scotland’s heritage.'

In his current position, Mr Baker works with colleagues across the NGS on many aspects of the management of the National Gallery and the care and presentation of its outstanding collection and the buildings that house it. He has had specific responsibility for the Gallery’s Drawings and Print Collection and the promotion of it through research and displays.

Commenting on his new position, Christopher Baker said: 'The Scottish National Portrait Gallery has been brilliantly re-developed and it is a privilege to be given the opportunity to work with a much-admired national institution and such an outstanding and wide-ranging collection on the next stage of its development.'

2003 – 2012 Deputy Director and Chief Curator, The Scottish National Gallery. Visiting Fellow, The Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, U.S. (2005) Author of J.M.W.Turner: The Vaughan Bequest (2006)

ALISON WATT TO UNVEIL NEW ACQUISITION AT SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

One of Scotland’s most distinguished contemporary artists, Alison Watt, will this week unveil a striking self-portrait, which has been acquired for the recently refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG). The painting, which was made while the artist was still a student, has been presented by the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for art, to celebrate the re-opening of the Gallery in December 2011.

Alison Watt was born in Greenock in 1965 and studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1983 to 1988. She first came to public attention in 1987, when she won the annual portrait award organised by the National Portrait Gallery in London, and was commissioned to paint HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. In 2000, Watt became the youngest artist to be given a solo exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and from 2006 to 2008 was Associate Artist at the National Gallery in London. She was awarded an OBE in 2008.

Although she has rarely engaged with formal portraiture since her early career, Alison Watt has said that there is an element of self-portraiture in all of her work - from the very beginning, when she would stand in front of a mirror and paint herself obsessively, to the more subtle representations of self implied in the complex and enigmatic paintings of folded drapery for which she is best known today.

Watt's Self-portrait of 1986-7 has been acquired for the SNPG from the artist's collection and has been exhibited only once before, at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow in 1990. Painted whilst she was ill, it shows Watt with her right hand across her forehead.

Despite the intensity of her observation, Watt treats herself objectively, giving the inanimate elements in the painting equal weight to her own depiction, in a way that anticipates much of her later work. The female figures and nudes Watt painted in the 1990s were often oblique or veiled references to herself, and in the later paintings of fabric this is even more subtly expressed. Although on first appearance these paintings have an almost abstract quality, devoid of a human presence, a powerful sense of the body is implied in the folds and creases created by the cloth.

The Scottish National Collection has a significant number of portraits of artists and a large number of self-portraits, to which this work by Alison Watt is an important addition.

Speaking of the acquision, Nicola Kalinsky, Interim Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, said: ‘The Art Fund’s gesture in presenting this exquisite self-portrait by one of the most interesting artists to emerge from Scotland in recent years was hugely generous. Marking the re-opening of the Portrait Gallery, this acquisition underlines our commitment to exploring contemporary portraiture and showcasing Scottish talent.’

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, added: ‘The re-opening of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery was one of the major museum success stories of 2011 – so when its curators asked the Art Fund to support their acquisition of this mesmerizing work we were keen to help. Indeed, by way of congratulating the museum on its triumphant re-opening we exceptionally offered to cover the full purchase cost. Like the museum, Alison Watt is deeply embedded in her Scottish context yet also of international stature, and the Art Fund is pleased to be saluting them both through this grant.’

Alison Watt said: 'I have always been fascinated by portraiture. Over the years I've studied extraordinary examples of it from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery's collection, particularly those works by Raeburn, Ramsay and Van Dyck. These paintings transcend time and place. That's what portraiture should do. It's a great thrill to be part of a collection which contains such iconic works.’

The Art Fund is the national charity which helps museums and galleries to buy, show and share art for the enjoyment of all. Over the past five years, the Art Fund has given over £24 million towards art of all kinds, from Old Masters to new media, and supported a range of programmes which share and show art to wider audiences, including the national tour of ARTIST ROOMS and the Art Fund Prize for museums. The Art Fund is independently funded and the majority of its income comes from 90,000 supporters who purchase a National Art Pass, costing from £50, which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off many major exhibitions.

The Scream comes to Edinburgh as part of Munch exhibition of masterpieces from an outstanding private collection. A spectacular private collection of Munch works – never shown before in the UK – opens at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art this weekend. Featuring 50 master works on paper by the celebrated Norwegian artist, Graphic Works from The GundersenCollection will be complemented with a number of prints by Munch on loan to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and will give viewers an insight into the working processes and preoccupations of the world famous Norwegian artist.

The extraordinary collection of lithographs and woodcuts assembled by Pål Georg Gundersen show Munch’s pioneering working processes and highlights the integral part that printmaking played within his artistic career. Primarily dating from the period 1895 to 1902, the works include many of the motifs that Munch grouped together as a series entitled ‘The Frieze of Life’ that focused on universal concerns of love, anxiety and death. This is the only UK showing of the must-see collection of 50 works; previously the collection has been exhibited at the Kunstmuseen Bergen, Norway in 2010, and at the Musée des Beaux Arts, Caen, France in 2011.

Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said:

'It is a huge coup to have such an amazing concentration of works by one of the world’s most celebrated artists. As the only UK venue for this exhibition, it will give our visitors a unique opportunity to explore in depth the evolution of thought behind some of the world’s most powerful and iconic works.'

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is often cited as one of the fore-runners of Expressionist art, as well as being a key figure in Symbolism. Born in Norway, Munch’s childhood was fraught with loss – his mother and elder sister, Sophie, both died during his childhood. In 1886 he completed one of his most significant paintings, The Sick Child. Based on his sister’s death, it is one of many works which deal with personal tragedy and Munch later developed the image into a lithograph that he considered to be his most important print. An example of this image was the first work by Munch that Pål Gundersen acquired and three different versions will be shown side by side in the exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Munch was introduced to printmaking in Paris in the mid-1890s, during which time he spent significant periods working in both Paris and Berlin. This period is notable as a prolific and highly productive period in the master painter and printmaker’s career. He made many of his most famous prints during the years 1895 and 1896 including an iconic, hand-coloured version of The Scream that will be on show in Edinburgh.

For Munch, print making was a means to share his work as far as possible and he also used the ability to produce multiple impressions to experiment with textures and colours so as to alter the impact and meaning of his works. This exhibition will show Munch in a new light, for both those familiar with his work and those who are coming to it for the first time; Graphic Works from The Gundersen Collection allows visitors to compare different versions of many subjects alongside each other. For example, three examples of the lithograph Madonna show how Munch used colour, both added by hand and in the printing process, to emphasise the drama of his image.

The exhibition will also include a special display focusing on the history of Munch’s first solo presentation in the UK that took place in Edinburgh in 1931. As well as provoking a debate about the nature of modern art, Munch’s influence on the work of Scottish artists who saw the show such as William Gillies and William MacTaggart has been recognised. Downstairs at Modern Two, works from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s permanent collection will feature in displays that draw out the wider European context and signal the depth of influence that Munch’s practice had upon artists working across Europe, including paintings and major prints by artists such as Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Wassily Kandinsky.

Tuesday April 3: Google today announced a partnership with the National Galleries of Scotland, expanding its pathbreaking Art Project in the UK.

The National Galleries of Scotland has partnered with Google Art to bring 150 works of art from the NGS collection to the wider public. World-class works by Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet , Raeburn and Titian can be viewed in brilliant and enlightening detail with Google Art. Now, not only will visitors to the galleries be able to go home and take a closer look at 150 of their favourite paintings, watercolours, drawings and photographs but art from the collection will be available for a much wider audience to discover and enjoy in extraordinary detail. Google Art will allow those that cannot attend any of the three galleries in Edinburgh in person to get a taste of the NGS collection wherever in the world they are.

The partnership is part of a major global expansion of the project, which now counts 151 partners in 40 countries. Thanks to Google, art lovers are able with a few simple clicks of their fingers to discover not just paintings, but also sculpture, street art, and photographs. Creations from a wide variety of cultures and civilizations are represented, including Brazilian street graffiti, Islamic decorative arts and ancient African rock art.

All told, more than 30,000 high resolution objects are available, up from the original 1,000 in only nine museums. Street View images now cover 46 Museums, with more on the way.

A wide range of institutions, large and small, traditional art museums as well as less traditional settings for great art, are represented in the expanded Art Project. Explore the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar. Continue the journey in India, exploring the Santiniketan Triptych in the halls of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi.

Key Features

Significant technical improvements have been undertaken. Street View images are now displayed in finer quality than the original version. Users may browse the content by the artist’s name, the artwork, the type of art, the museum, the country, collections and the time period. Google+ and video hangouts are integrated on the site, allowing viewers to create even more engaging personal galleries.

Key features of Google’s expanded Art Project:

Explore museums with Street View technology: using this feature, people can move around the gallery virtually on www.googleartproject.com, selecting works of art that interest them and clicking to discover more or diving into the high resolution images, where available.

A specially designed Street View ‘trolley’ took 360 degree images of the interior of selected galleries which were then stitched together, enabling smooth navigation of over 385 rooms within the museums. The gallery interiors can also be explored directly from within Street View in Google Maps.

Super high resolution feature artworks:

Super high resolution feature artworks: around 46 partners selected one artwork to be photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution or ‘gigapixel’ photo capturing technology. Each such image contains around 7 billion pixels, enabling the viewer to study details of the brushwork and patina beyond that possible with the naked eye. Hard to see details suddenly become clear, such as the tiny figures toiling on the doomed construction of Bruegel’s Tower of Babel, the mysterious and intricate carved symbols of the Pedra del Sol in Mexico, or the painstakingly detailed wonder of Seurat’s Pointillist masterpiece A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.

In addition, museums provided images for a selection totalling more than 30,000 works of art. The resolution of these images, combined with a custom built zoom viewer, allows art-lovers to discover minute aspects of paintings they may never have seen up close before, such as the miniaturized people in the river of El Greco’s ‘View of Toledo’, or individual dots in Seurat’s ‘Grandcamp, Evening’

Create your own collection:

The ‘Create an Artwork Collection’ feature allows users to save specific views of any of artworks and build their own personalised collection. Comments can be added to each painting and the whole collection can then be shared with friends and family. It’s an ideal tool for students or groups to work on collaborative projects or collections.

Discover, search, and explore:

With such large collection is was important for us to provide the tools that allow users to explore across partners using the discover tool, and then further explore artworks by that artist across all collections. A custom search integration makes it easier than ever to browse through collections, and find what your are looking instantly.

Multi platform support:

With this launch we have finally brought the Art Project to the tablet. The experience of viewing Art on a tablet and browsing through rich content truly comes to life. Currently we support the Android platform and are hoping to have the Ipad version ready post launch.

Nelson Mattos, VP Engineering, Google

“Google is committed to bringing all types of culture online and making it accessible. The Art Project demonstrates how the Internet helps spread knowledge.

Amit Sood, Head of Art Project, Google

“The new expanded Art Project demonstrates our commitment to all types of art - and cultures and civilizations all across the globe. The Art Project is no longer just about the Indian student wanting to visit Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is now also about the American student wanting to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi.”

The Google Art Project is a unique collaboration with some of the world’s most acclaimed art museums to enable people to discover and view artworks online in extraordinary detail. The Art Project epitomizes Google’s commitment to bringing culture online and making it accessible the widest possible audience. Under the auspices of the Cultural Institute, Google is producing high resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela, and creating 3D models of 18th century French cities.

Magnum Photographer Stuart Franklin’s three year project to document the Scottish countryside reveals the nature of Scottish agriculture. A fascinating display of sweeping Scottish landscapes by renowned documentary photographer, Stuart Franklin, opens at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this week. Farmscapes, commissioned by the Gallery in 2007, includes photographs taken over a three year period and records the numerous ways agriculture shapes the Scottish countryside. It creates a dramatic and diverse portrait of Scotland’s landscape, from the Isles of Skye and Harris to Elgin and the Strathmore Valley. Born in 1956, Stuart Franklin has been a member of the famous Magnum Photos agency since 1989, the same year that he took one of the iconic images of the twentieth century – a student defying a row of tanks in Tiananmen Square – for which he won a World Press Award.

Farmscapes showcases the extent of agricultural impact on the Scottish countryside through the seasons, under both blue skies and covered in snow. Franklin’s camera has recorded organic pig production in Elgin, a fishery in Harris and crofting in Skye. He has traced the environmental damage caused by intensive forestry in the Trossachs and the impact of mobile phone masts on the landscape near Montrose. With around three quarters of the nation’s land mass devoted to agricultural production, Franklin’s photographs remind us of the significance of farming to the Scottish economy and its profound impact on the shape of the land.

Farmscapes also draws attention to environmental themes. Meadow with Ox-eye Daisies, Yellow Rattle and Knapweed, Oronsay shows a meadow in full bloom, luring insects back to pesticide-free surroundings. In Growing Strawberries in Chimney Pots, Carbeth Hutters Community Company, Near Glasgow Franklin picks out a young gardener tending to strawberries grown in reclaimed chimney pots. The Carbeth Hutters Community was set up in the 1920s when plots were made available for city dwellers to let and build holiday homes. Today, the photograph indicates the trend for outdoor initiatives such as allotments and community gardens.

Duncan Forbes, Senior Curator of Photography at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery commented:

'Franklin’s photographs are a stunning reminder of the scale of human intervention in the Scottish landscape – the vast majority of our countryside is now farmed in one way or another. It’s the sheer variety of agricultural land use in Scotland which these photographs document.'

Farmscapes is an exhibition that highlights what many of us take for granted as our ‘natural’ surroundings. It provides a striking perspective on Scotland’s farmlands, from the large- to small-scale. The exhibition will be in the Contemporary Gallery on the ground floor of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

To celebrate its recent nomination for the Art Fund Prize 2012, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery will be holding a ‘Vote for Us’ Day on Thursday 15 March. The Art Fund Prize is the UK’s annual ‘museum of the year’ award, and the biggest prize for arts and cultural organisations in the country. The long list of ten galleries and museums was announced in February, and members of the public have been given the opportunity to influence the judges’ final decision by voicing their opinions in a special online forum on the Art Fund Prize website. A short list of four nominees is to be announced in May, before the annual £100,000 prize is awarded in June.

To encourage supporters of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to have their say, Gallery staff will be highlighting the prize nomination between 10 am and 4 pm this Thursday. Visitors will be able to enjoy free cake from the Gallery’s hugely popular café and anyone who posts a comment on the Art Fund Prize forum will be entered into a draw to win an iPad 2. A selection of comments submitted will be published on the site and passed to the judges to consider. The forum and prize draw close at 11.59 pm on Sunday 22 April.

The Art Fund Prize rewards excellence and innovation in museums and galleries in the UK for a project completed or undertaken in the previous calendar year. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopened in December 2011, following a £17.6 million transformation—the first refurbishment in its 120-year history—and with an entirely new presentation of its world-famous collection, which offers a more vivid and engaging portrait of Scotland past and present.

Speaking of the nomination for the 2012 prize, John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: ‘The redevelopment of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery has given us the opportunity to do something very special, not only fulfilling, for the first time, the architect’s original vision for the world’s first purpose-built portrait gallery but also creating a unique opportunity to redefine what a portrait gallery is today. We have transformed the way we present our collection, offering a much more vivid and engaging portrait of Scotland past and present. We are extremely pleased and honoured to make the long list for the Art Fund Prize, which is hugely significant in making the public aware of the great things happening in museums and galleries across the UK.’

Two other museums in Scotland have been nominated for the 2012 prize: the National Museum of Scotland and the Riverside Museum, Scotland's Museum of Transport and Travel

The Art Fund Prize is administered by The Museum Prize, a charitable company created in 2001 by representatives of National Heritage, the Museums Association, the Art Fund and the Campaign for Museums and chaired by Lady Cobham. These organisations agreed to put aside award schemes they formerly ran (including National Heritage’s Museum of the Year) and lend their support to this single major prize.

The Art Fund has sponsored The Museum Prize since 2008. The Art Fund is the national charity which helps museums and galleries to buy, show and share art for the enjoyment of all. Over the past five years, the Art Fund has given over £24 million towards art of all kinds, from Old Masters to new media, and supported a range of programmes which share and show art to wider audiences, including the national tour of ARTIST ROOMS and the Art Fund Prize for museums. The Art Fund is independently funded and the majority of its income comes from 90,000 supporters who purchase a National Art Pass, costing from £50, which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off many major exhibitions.

NATIONAL GALLERIES LAUNCHES SEARCH FOR WORKS BY SCOTTISH COLOURIST S. J. PEPLOE

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art today launched an appeal for owners of paintings by the celebrated Scottish Colourist S. J. Peploe to come forward. Following the success of its current exhibition devoted to the work of Peploe’s friend F. C. B. Cadell, the Gallery will be holding a major retrospective of Peploe’s work, opening on 3 November 2012. The exhibition curators are interested in uncovering rarely seen works by one of the most important Scottish artists of the twentieth-century.

During his lifetime, Peploe exhibited regularly in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The children and grand-children of his friends and patrons may well still own these works and the Gallery hopes to re-discover some long-since hidden masterpieces.

Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935) was the eldest of the four artists popularly known as ‘The Scottish Colourists’, the others being F. C. B. Cadell, G. L. Hunter and J. D. Fergusson. He was born in Edinburgh and lived there for most of his life, except for periods spent in France, most significantly in Paris. From around 1914 until his death, Peploe sought to paint the perfect still life. In 1929 he explained: ‘There is so much in mere objects, flowers, leaves, jugs, what not – colours, forms, relation – I can never see mystery coming to an end.’

The care which Peploe lavished on his still lifes, painted in the studio, contrasts with the more spontaneous technique with which he created his French and Scottish landscapes, painted en plein air (in the open air) from 1896. In 1920, Cadell invited him to paint with him on Iona and Peploe returned almost annually over the next thirteen years, also working in other parts of Scotland and France.

The planned retrospective follows the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s landmark exhibition of Peploe’s exhibition held in 1985. It will consist of approximately 70 paintings, from public and private collections and will be accompanied by a lavishly illustrated catalogue.

Alice Strang, Senior Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art said: “It would be wonderful to bring to light beautiful paintings by this leading Scottish artist, which have not been seen in public for decades.”

If you think you can help, please contact Alice Strang on astrang@nationalgalleries.org / 0131 624 6328. All information received will be treated in confidence.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

The Scottish Colourist Series at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art consists of:

The Scottish Colourist Series: F.C.B. Cadell (Sponsored by Dickson Minto)Last Chance to See – closes on 18 March 2012

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the National Gallery in London are delighted to announce that Titian’s great masterpiece Diana and Callisto has been acquired for the public.

This acquisition - along with the purchase of its companion painting Diana and Actaeon in 2009 - ensures that these two superlative works by Titian will remain together on public display in either London or Edinburgh. This also means that the Bridgewater Collection - the greatest private collection of Old Master Paintings in the world – will remain intact on long-term loan at the NGS.

Both institutions were acutely aware of the challenges of launching a public campaign during such difficult economic times and therefore decided to approach individual donors and grant-making trusts in the first instance. Our initial discussions led to a number of significant pledges of support, with exceptional charitable grants being offered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Art Fund and The Monument Trust. We are immensely grateful to all the individuals and trusts whose generous charitable support has made this acquisition possible.

Diana and Callisto and Diana and Actaeon have been in the UK for more than 200 years. They were both painted as part of a cycle of works for Philip II of Spain and they represent a highpoint in Italian Renaissance art. The paintings left Titian’s studio together and have only changed hands three times since then (from the Spanish Royal Collection to the Orléans collection, and then to the Bridgewater Collection at the end of the eighteenth century). The acquisition of Diana and Callisto means that the pair can remain together in Britain for the enjoyment of the public in perpetuity.

The two paintings were offered by the Duke of Sutherland, to NGS and National Gallery in London on very generous terms at prices significantly lower than their market value. Having raised £50 million in 2009 to acquire Diana and Actaeon, the Galleries were given until December 2012 to find a similar amount for Diana and Callisto. To meet this, the Trustees of the National Gallery in London made the unprecedented decision to allocate a significant proportion of their remaining reserves to this acquisition. This sum of £25m principally represents bequests left by members of the public over many years and held by the Gallery for future picture purchases.

To assist the Galleries in meeting the funding target, the Duke of Sutherland and his family have agreed to a further reduction of the asking price to £45m. By agreement with all parties a new, earlier deadline was established of the end of March 2012. The generous reduction in price, together with the commitment of the National Gallery in London’s reserves, gave both Galleries a strong basis from which to fundraise.

As a result of the joint acquisition, Diana and Callisto will be shared by both institutions and displayed together with Diana and Actaeon on a 60:40 rotating basis in London and Edinburgh, meaning that the public will have access to both works together. This allocation reflects the fact that a larger proportion of the funding for Diana and Callisto has come from the National Gallery in London.

Diana and Callisto will be on display from today in London for 18 months (to be joined by Diana and Actaeon on its return from a regional tour in July), and then on display in Scotland for 12 months. Following this, both paintings will be shown together in London for three years and in Scotland for two years. They will then settle into a display cycle of six years in London and four years in Scotland.

This acquisition and the continuation of the Bridgewater Loan, which includes masterpieces by artists such as Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt and Poussin, ensure that the NGS retains its status as one of Europe’s great destinations for any lover of Western European art. The Titian pictures have been on continuous public view in the Scottish National Gallery since they were placed there on loan in 1945 by the then 5th Earl of Ellesmere (later 6th Duke of Sutherland). The addition of these masterpieces to the collection in Trafalgar Square, which is already rich in works by Titian for all periods of his activity, establishes the National Gallery as a world centre for the study of Venetian Renaissance painting.

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said, “It has long been an absolute priority for the National Galleries of Scotland to retain the world-famous Bridgewater loan in this country and to keep these superlative masterpieces on view for the enjoyment and inspiration of our visitors We are delighted that the purchase of Callisto will now keep that loan intact and allows the public to continue to enjoy some of the greatest achievements of Western European art. We are hugely grateful to the HLF, the Art Fund and to all the trusts and individuals who have helped to make this possible.”

Dr Nicholas Penny, Director of the National Gallery, London said, “For more than a hundred years these two great paintings by Titian have been regarded as pre-eminent among the masterpieces in private hands in the UK. We have been able to secure both of them for the public, in a period of economic hardship, because of the esteem and affection that both institutions have enjoyed for many decades. It is a triumph for us, but also for our predecessors, made possible by today's supporters, but also by benefactors who have long departed.”

The Duke of Sutherland said, “I am delighted that these two great masterpieces by Titian will remain together as they have been since they were painted in 1556-59 and on view for the public in Britain. I congratulate the two Galleries on their success in securing these works and I would like to express my gratitude for their helpful and supportive approach. I look forward to many more years association between my family and the National Galleries of Scotland through the continuing loan of the Bridgewater Collection."

Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said, "Diana and Callisto is an extraordinary painting and we are delighted to be helping secure it for the nation. Along with its pendant, ‘Diana and Actaeon’, it will provide opportunities for inspiration, study and learning. The icing on the cake is the continuation of the long-term loan of the Bridgewater Collection to the National Galleries of Scotland, enabling as many visitors as possible to enjoy it.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, said, “The Art Fund is pleased to have played a role in ensuring that this masterpiece can continue to be on public display for future generations to enjoy. The two paintings by Titian are amongst the very finest productions of one of the greatest painters, and have influenced generations of artists over the years. By ensuring the two works remain together we greatly augment our understanding of their significance. We look forward to working with the National Galleries in Scotland and London on a major public programme which will foster widening appreciation of Titian’s incomparable achievement as an artist”.

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt said, “This is great news. It shows what can be achieved when determination, goodwill and a tremendous amount of generosity come together. I am very pleased that we have been able to play our part by freeing up the National Gallery’s reserves, diverting more money to arts and heritage from the National Lottery and taking practical steps to encourage greater philanthropy. Diana and Callisto is a breathtakingly beautiful work of art and I am immensely grateful to everyone who has helped to keep it and its companion painting Diana and Actaeon in the UK in perpetuity.”

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop said, “Securing the long term loan of the Bridgewater Collection is fantastic news – it is great for Scotland, our cultural collections and our economy. The arrangements announced today will see both Titian paintings in Scotland for the Commonwealth Games and Year of Homecoming 2014, enticing people from both home and abroad to visit our national galleries and Scotland.”

Breakdown of funding, Diana and Callisto

•£5 million reduction in the asking price by the Duke of Sutherland

•£3 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund

•£2 million from the Art Fund (with an additional£75,000 for a digital public engagement programme)

•£15 million donations and grants from individual donors and trusts including The Monument Trust, The Rothschild Foundation, Chris Rokos, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, the J. Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust, James and Clare Kirkman, Sarah and David Kowitz, Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland, and others who prefer to remain anonymous

•£25 million from the National Gallery charitable reserves, principally from legacies left by the public to the NGL over many years

•The Art Fund is further supporting both Galleries in the development and implementation of an innovative digital public engagement programme which will provide a wealth of contextual information enabling greater appreciation and understanding of Titian and his paintings.

•£7.4 million in donations and pledges from individuals trusts and the general public, of which £150,000 was donated via the Art Fund. (The amount raised from the general public in response to leaflets, direct mail, collection boxes and sales of badges was £400,000).

•£2 million from The Monument Trust

•£1 million from the Art Fund

•£10 million from National Heritage Memorial Fund

•£17.1million Scottish Government and NGS purchase funds

•£12.5 million from the National Gallery, comprising £11.5 from bequests, general donations and investment income from these sources and £1 million Grant-in-Aid

About the Heritage Lottery Fund: Using money raised through the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported more than 30,000 projects allocating £4.7billion across the UK.

About the Art Fund: The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million in grants for purchase and also supported a range of projects and programmes aimed at helping more people enjoy art. It is independently funded by 90,000 supporters who purchase a National Art Pass, costing from £50 which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions. Find out more about the Art Fund and how to buy a National Art Pass at www.artfund.org. Media contact 020 7225 4888, media@artfund.org

DCMS: Since May 2012, the UK Government has introduced a range of measures to incentivise giving to culture, from the establishment of the new Cultural Gifts Scheme to a boost for legacy giving through measures to reduce inheritance tax liability, and simplification of Gift Aid. Together with the £100 million Catalyst programme to support endowments, facilitating access to accumulated reserves and other measures set out in the Giving White Paper, DCMS hopes to underpin the ability of museums and galleries to continue to enhance their collections through the acquisition of great works of art.

CELEBRATING THE ACQUISITION OF DIANA AND CALLISTO

A wide range of activities is being organised in order to broaden access to, engage with and discover more about Titian and his masterpieces, the Bridgewater Collection and Renaissance art.

Titian’s Diana and Callisto

Until 1 July 2012

Room 1, National Gallery, London

Following the acquisition of Diana and Callisto, the painting will be on display at the National Gallery in London until 1 July 2012.

Metamorphosis: Titian 2012

11 July 2012 – 21 September 2012

Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London

Admission free

This exhibition will demonstrate how masterpieces by Titian continue to inspire living artists today. The National Gallery and the Royal Opera House are uniting for an exceptional collaboration that celebrates British artistic creativity, as part of the Cultural Olympiad’s London 2012 Festival. A range of contemporary artists – including choreographers, composers, poets and visual artists will all respond to Titian’s Diana and Actaeon, Death of Actaeon and Diana and Callisto, his three paintings inspired by Ovid’s narrative poem Metamorphoses. Their works will be displayed at the National Gallery and performed at the Royal Opera House by The Royal Ballet.

Commonwealth Games

NGS is planning a special display in Edinburgh, with the two Titian paintings as a centrepiece, to coincide with the 2014 Commonwealth Games. As with the Olympics in London, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (24 July to 3 August 2014) is expected to draw a truly diverse audience, from all over the UK and beyond, to Scotland.

The Art Fund

Digital Interpretation

The National Gallery, London and National Galleries of Scotland would like to thank the Art Fund, which is generously supporting a range of digital activities to help raise awareness of the Bridgewater Titians across the UK. These activities include the commissioning of a range of digital material exploring the works, which enable people to explore the works and their context. The material will include audio, film, zoom features and room views and specially commissioned podcasts and interviews and will be particularly valuable to those unable to visit the gallery in person. A new app will be created which explores Titian in the context of his contemporaries and other artists and brings together for the first time, in a virtual gallery, Titian’s Poesie series of six paintings - something that would never be possible in reality.

As part of the programme, and drawing on the award-winning Grand Tour the National Gallery did in London (2007) and York (2008), there will also be a UK tour of large scale reproductions of the Diana and Callisto in interesting and surprising locations.

THE BRIDGEWATER COLLECTION

The Bridgewater Collection counts among the most important collections of Old Master paintings still in private hands anywhere in the world. Works from the collection have been on public view in Great Britain since the early 19th century and its crucial importance to the UK heritage has long been recognised.

The collection was originally formed by Francis Egerton, the 3rd and last Duke of Bridgewater - known famously as “the Canal Duke.” The core of the Collection was acquired following the dispersal of the renowned Orléans Collection after the French Revolution in 1792. The Canal Duke had no children and on his death his estate passed to descendants of his sister Louisa Egerton, who had married the father of the 1st Duke of Sutherland. The Collection, with substantial English lands owned by the Canal Duke, thus passed to the 1st Duke of Sutherland’s youngest son Francis, who took the name Egerton and was created 1st Earl of Ellesmere in 1846.

The Old Master paintings in the Bridgewater Collection were among the first privately owned old master paintings to be made accessible to the public in Britain. Visitors were allowed to see them in a London townhouse on certain days from as early as 1806, and they have been available to the public almost continually ever since.

The collection passed by descent to the late 6th Duke of Sutherland, who, in 1945 placed the most famous works from the Bridgewater collection on loan to the National Galleries of Scotland.

The Bridgewater Loan to the National Galleries of Scotland

The Bridgewater Loan has been on continuous public view in the NGS since 1945. Today this loan constitutes one of the greatest loans of old master pictures from a private collection to a public museum anywhere in the world. It immeasurably enriches the appeal and status of the NGS as a centre of cultural excellence. The loan now consists of twenty-five paintings and one drawing by artists such as Raphael, Titian, Poussin and Rembrandt and attracts visitors from all over the world.

Originally there were 32 Old Master paintings on loan; in 1984 the NGS acquired four paintings from the collection by Private Treaty with an NHMF grant; in 2003, the NGS acquired Titian’s Venus Anadyomene, partially in lieu if inheritance tax and with the aid of generous contributions from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish Executive.

Recognition of the Paramount Importance of the Bridgewater Collection

1922 - The UK Government compiled the first ‘Paramount List’ of key masterpieces in private collections which the Treasury agreed it would assist the NGL to buy. It included Titian’s Diana and Actaeon.

1927 & 1930 - The list was revised, but retained the original inclusions.

1971 - The idea of using such a list was revived again and the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries drew up a new list, including the Titians.

1973 - The Commission formally submitted the list to the Prime Minister. The works on it were deemed to be “of such outstanding quality that they should not under any circumstance be allowed to leave the country.” Six works from the Bridgewater collection were on the list, including Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto.

2004 - Goodison Review, Securing the Best for our Museums, p.12, notes the exceptional nature of the Bridgewater loan.

2007 - Apollo Magazine publishes its own ‘Paramount List’ of 25 works, which includes the Bridgewater Titians. “The most important group of privately owned pictures belongs to the Duke of Sutherland, who has lent them to the National Gallery of Scotland. The withdrawal of any of these from the Edinburgh Gallery would be a major loss.”

List of works on loan to National Galleries of Scotland

Paintings

1. Gerard Ter Borch: A Singing Practice

2. Dutch School: An Old Lady Wearing a Ruff

3. Sir Anthony Van Dyck: Portrait of a Young Man

4. Hobbema: Landscape with a View of the Bergkerk, Deventer

5. Nicolas Poussin: Moses Striking the Rock

6. Nicolas Poussin: The Sacrament of Baptism

7. Nicolas Poussin: The Sacrament of Confirmation

8. Nicolas Poussin: The Sacrament of Marriage

9. Nicolas Poussin: The Sacrament of Penance

10. Nicolas Poussin: The Sacrament of Ordination

11. Nicolas Poussin: The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist

12. Nicolas Poussin: The Sacrament of Extreme Unction

13. Raphael: The Holy Family with a Palm Tree

14. Raphael: The Bridgewater Madonna

15. Raphael and Studio: The Madonna del Passeggio

16. After Raphael: The Madonna with the Veil

17. Rembrandt: Self-Portrait, aged 51

18. Studio of Rembrandt: A Young Woman with Flowers in her Hair

19. Studio of Rembrandt: Hannah and Samuel

20. Follower of Rembrandt: A Study of a Man’s Head

21. Tintoretto: Portrait of a Venetian

22. Titian: The Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist and an unidentified Male Saint

23. Titian: The Three Ages of Man

24. Rubens: Mercury bearing Psyche in his arms to Olympus

25. Bonifazio Veronese: The Madonna and Child with the Infant Baptist, Saint Joseph in the Distance

Drawing

26. Rubens: Frans Rubens

For further information about the Bridgewater Collection please contact:

National Galleries of Scotland

Patricia Convery – Head of Press

Tel: 0131 624 6325

Email:pconvery@nationalgalleries.org

THE PAINTINGS

Diana and Callisto

Oil on canvas

187 x 204.5 cm

Diana and Actaeon

Oil on canvas

184.4 x 202.2 cm

The two paintings have an extremely distinguished provenance. They were both painted for King Philip II of Spain between 1556 and 1559, when Titian was at the height of his powers. They formed part of a series of six large mythological pictures made for the King. The other works in the series are: the Danaë and Venus and Adonis (both The Prado, Madrid), Perseus and Andromeda (Wallace Collection, London) and the Rape of Europa (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston).

In 1623 the two pictures nearly left Madrid for London. They were to form part of a diplomatic gift to King Charles I because he was planning to marry a Spanish Infanta (princess). However, the marriage did not proceed, and the paintings eventually moved to France in 1704 as a diplomatic gift. Almost a century later (1798) they arrived in Britain where they were purchased by the Duke of Bridgewater as part of the famous Orléans sale.

The themes which link the pictures include the loves of the gods and the tragic consequences for mortals who become associated with them. The two works have long been recognised not only as being among Titian’s very finest creations, but as supreme masterpieces of Venetian Renaissance art. The scale of ambition, the masterful unity of colour and subject matter, the art-historical importance and their excellent condition are all factors that form part of the fame and reputation of these works which, until their acquisition for the nation, were two of the most important Renaissance pictures still in private ownership..

THE ARTIST

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)

(Born about 1485-90 – died 1576)

Titian was the greatest of all Venetian artists; he built a formidable European reputation during his life, and his fame has endured. The technical wizardry, narrative skill and psychological insight he brought to his works have ensured they remain among the most highly prized of all Renaissance masterpieces.

He was initially associated with the painter Giorgione, with whom he shared an interest in landscape settings for lyrical, secular and sacred scenes. Artistically Titian reached full maturity with his commission for the altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin (The Frari, Venice; completed 1518). He proved himself able to work with remarkable success on a wide variety of projects: portraits, mythological works, allegories, altarpieces etc. He formed connections with the greatest patrons of his age, such as Emperor Charles V (who knighted him in 1533), and the King of Spain, Philip II. He also worked for the leading families of Venice, Mantua, Ferrara, Urbino and Rome.

Recently major exhibitions on the artist have been organised by the NGL and NGS: Titian (NGL) (2003), The Age of Titian (NGS) (2004).

QUOTES

“I was staggered when I saw the works… and looked at them with wondering and with longing eyes… A new sense came upon me, a new heaven and a new earth stood before me…”

William Hazlitt, the critic, on seeing the Orléans collection - including the Bridgewater Titians - in London, 1797-98.

“…when I was staying in the Scottish Borders, I used to drive into Edinburgh almost every day to look at Titian’s two paintings… Since then they’ve been among my absolute favourites… The degree of conviction is so absolute. That’s one of the things that very great paintings have in common… How is it that these paintings, which are as effortless as a Matisse, affect you more than any tragedy? Everything they contain is there for the viewer’s pleasure.”

“To me, these are simply the most beautiful pictures in the world.”

Lucian Freud, interviewed 22 December 2001.

“[The] themes may be classical, but as he renders them, Titian is uncompromisingly modern. Indeed Cezannes Bathers, and even Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon, still owe a direct debt to these pictures.”

Duncan Macmillan, The Scotsman, 22 February 2003

“These two mythologies… rank among the supreme poetic creations of the Italian Renaissance”

Peter Humfrey, Professor of Art History at the University of St Andrews , The Age of Titian, exhibition at NGS, 2004.

“I am so delighted that this great, great masterpiece has been secured. It will inspire the nation and people will come from all over the world to see it.”

John Bellany, Artist

“This is great news for Britain and for art. These sumptuous late great works of Titian bring joy and pleasure to all.”

Antony Gormley, Artist

“Titian started thinking about colour in a way that no painter before him had and thanks to artists like Monet and Matisse his most important insights are still with us today."

Bridget Riley, Artist

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the National Gallery in London are delighted to announce that Titian’s great masterpiece Diana and Callisto has been acquired for the public.

This acquisition - along with the purchase of its companion painting Diana and Actaeon in 2009 - ensures that these two superlative works by Titian will remain together on public display in either London or Edinburgh. This also means that the Bridgewater Collection - the greatest private collection of Old Master Paintings in the world – will remain intact on long-term loan at the NGS.

Both institutions were acutely aware of the challenges of launching a public campaign during such difficult economic times and therefore decided to approach individual donors and grant-making trusts in the first instance. Our initial discussions led to a number of significant pledges of support, with exceptional charitable grants being offered by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Art Fund and The Monument Trust. We are immensely grateful to all the individuals and trusts whose generous charitable support has made this acquisition possible.

Diana and Callisto and Diana and Actaeon have been in the UK for more than 200 years. They were both painted as part of a cycle of works for Philip II of Spain and they represent a highpoint in Italian Renaissance art. The paintings left Titian’s studio together and have only changed hands three times since then (from the Spanish Royal Collection to the Orléans collection, and then to the Bridgewater Collection at the end of the eighteenth century). The acquisition of Diana and Callisto means that the pair can remain together in Britain for the enjoyment of the public in perpetuity.

The two paintings were offered by the Duke of Sutherland, to NGS and National Gallery in London on very generous terms at prices significantly lower than their market value. Having raised £50 million in 2009 to acquire Diana and Actaeon, the Galleries were given until December 2012 to find a similar amount for Diana and Callisto. To meet this, the Trustees of the National Gallery in London made the unprecedented decision to allocate a significant proportion of their remaining reserves to this acquisition. This sum of £25m principally represents bequests left by members of the public over many years and held by the Gallery for future picture purchases.

To assist the Galleries in meeting the funding target, the Duke of Sutherland and his family have agreed to a further reduction of the asking price to £45m. By agreement with all parties a new, earlier deadline was established of the end of March 2012. The generous reduction in price, together with the commitment of the National Gallery in London’s reserves, gave both Galleries a strong basis from which to fundraise.

As a result of the joint acquisition, Diana and Callisto will be shared by both institutions and displayed together with Diana and Actaeon on a 60:40 rotating basis in London and Edinburgh, meaning that the public will have access to both works together. This allocation reflects the fact that a larger proportion of the funding for Diana and Callisto has come from the National Gallery in London.

Diana and Callisto will be on display from today in London for 18 months (to be joined by Diana and Actaeon on its return from a regional tour in July), and then on display in Scotland for 12 months. Following this, both paintings will be shown together in London for three years and in Scotland for two years. They will then settle into a display cycle of six years in London and four years in Scotland.

This acquisition and the continuation of the Bridgewater Loan, which includes masterpieces by artists such as Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt and Poussin, ensure that the NGS retains its status as one of Europe’s great destinations for any lover of Western European art. The Titian pictures have been on continuous public view in the Scottish National Gallery since they were placed there on loan in 1945 by the then 5th Earl of Ellesmere (later 6th Duke of Sutherland). The addition of these masterpieces to the collection in Trafalgar Square, which is already rich in works by Titian for all periods of his activity, establishes the National Gallery as a world centre for the study of Venetian Renaissance painting.

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said, “It has long been an absolute priority for the National Galleries of Scotland to retain the world-famous Bridgewater loan in this country and to keep these superlative masterpieces on view for the enjoyment and inspiration of our visitors We are delighted that the purchase of Callisto will now keep that loan intact and allows the public to continue to enjoy some of the greatest achievements of Western European art. We are hugely grateful to the HLF, the Art Fund and to all the trusts and individuals who have helped to make this possible.”

Dr Nicholas Penny, Director of the National Gallery, London said, “For more than a hundred years these two great paintings by Titian have been regarded as pre-eminent among the masterpieces in private hands in the UK. We have been able to secure both of them for the public, in a period of economic hardship, because of the esteem and affection that both institutions have enjoyed for many decades. It is a triumph for us, but also for our predecessors, made possible by today's supporters, but also by benefactors who have long departed.”

The Duke of Sutherland said, “I am delighted that these two great masterpieces by Titian will remain together as they have been since they were painted in 1556-59 and on view for the public in Britain. I congratulate the two Galleries on their success in securing these works and I would like to express my gratitude for their helpful and supportive approach. I look forward to many more years association between my family and the National Galleries of Scotland through the continuing loan of the Bridgewater Collection."

Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said, "Diana and Callisto is an extraordinary painting and we are delighted to be helping secure it for the nation. Along with its pendant, ‘Diana and Actaeon’, it will provide opportunities for inspiration, study and learning. The icing on the cake is the continuation of the long-term loan of the Bridgewater Collection to the National Galleries of Scotland, enabling as many visitors as possible to enjoy it.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, said, “The Art Fund is pleased to have played a role in ensuring that this masterpiece can continue to be on public display for future generations to enjoy. The two paintings by Titian are amongst the very finest productions of one of the greatest painters, and have influenced generations of artists over the years. By ensuring the two works remain together we greatly augment our understanding of their significance. We look forward to working with the National Galleries in Scotland and London on a major public programme which will foster widening appreciation of Titian’s incomparable achievement as an artist”.

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt said, “This is great news. It shows what can be achieved when determination, goodwill and a tremendous amount of generosity come together. I am very pleased that we have been able to play our part by freeing up the National Gallery’s reserves, diverting more money to arts and heritage from the National Lottery and taking practical steps to encourage greater philanthropy. Diana and Callisto is a breathtakingly beautiful work of art and I am immensely grateful to everyone who has helped to keep it and its companion painting Diana and Actaeon in the UK in perpetuity.”

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop said, “Securing the long term loan of the Bridgewater Collection is fantastic news – it is great for Scotland, our cultural collections and our economy. The arrangements announced today will see both Titian paintings in Scotland for the Commonwealth Games and Year of Homecoming 2014, enticing people from both home and abroad to visit our national galleries and Scotland.”

Breakdown of funding, Diana and Callisto

•£5 million reduction in the asking price by the Duke of Sutherland

•£3 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund

•£2 million from the Art Fund (with an additional£75,000 for a digital public engagement programme)

•£15 million donations and grants from individual donors and trusts including The Monument Trust, The Rothschild Foundation, Chris Rokos, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, the J. Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust, James and Clare Kirkman, Sarah and David Kowitz, Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland, and others who prefer to remain anonymous

•£25 million from the National Gallery charitable reserves, principally from legacies left by the public to the NGL over many years

•The Art Fund is further supporting both Galleries in the development and implementation of an innovative digital public engagement programme which will provide a wealth of contextual information enabling greater appreciation and understanding of Titian and his paintings.

•£7.4 million in donations and pledges from individuals trusts and the general public, of which £150,000 was donated via the Art Fund. (The amount raised from the general public in response to leaflets, direct mail, collection boxes and sales of badges was £400,000).

•£2 million from The Monument Trust

•£1 million from the Art Fund

•£10 million from National Heritage Memorial Fund

•£17.1million Scottish Government and NGS purchase funds

•£12.5 million from the National Gallery, comprising £11.5 from bequests, general donations and investment income from these sources and £1 million Grant-in-Aid

About the Heritage Lottery Fund: Using money raised through the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported more than 30,000 projects allocating £4.7billion across the UK.

About the Art Fund: The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million in grants for purchase and also supported a range of projects and programmes aimed at helping more people enjoy art. It is independently funded by 90,000 supporters who purchase a National Art Pass, costing from £50 which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions. Find out more about the Art Fund and how to buy a National Art Pass at www.artfund.org. Media contact 020 7225 4888, media@artfund.org

DCMS: Since May 2012, the UK Government has introduced a range of measures to incentivise giving to culture, from the establishment of the new Cultural Gifts Scheme to a boost for legacy giving through measures to reduce inheritance tax liability, and simplification of Gift Aid. Together with the £100 million Catalyst programme to support endowments, facilitating access to accumulated reserves and other measures set out in the Giving White Paper, DCMS hopes to underpin the ability of museums and galleries to continue to enhance their collections through the acquisition of great works of art.

CELEBRATING THE ACQUISITION OF DIANA AND CALLISTO

A wide range of activities is being organised in order to broaden access to, engage with and discover more about Titian and his masterpieces, the Bridgewater Collection and Renaissance art.

Titian’s Diana and Callisto

Until 1 July 2012

Room 1, National Gallery, London

Following the acquisition of Diana and Callisto, the painting will be on display at the National Gallery in London until 1 July 2012.

Metamorphosis: Titian 2012

11 July 2012 – 21 September 2012

Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London

Admission free

This exhibition will demonstrate how masterpieces by Titian continue to inspire living artists today. The National Gallery and the Royal Opera House are uniting for an exceptional collaboration that celebrates British artistic creativity, as part of the Cultural Olympiad’s London 2012 Festival. A range of contemporary artists – including choreographers, composers, poets and visual artists will all respond to Titian’s Diana and Actaeon, Death of Actaeon and Diana and Callisto, his three paintings inspired by Ovid’s narrative poem Metamorphoses. Their works will be displayed at the National Gallery and performed at the Royal Opera House by The Royal Ballet.

Commonwealth Games

NGS is planning a special display in Edinburgh, with the two Titian paintings as a centrepiece, to coincide with the 2014 Commonwealth Games. As with the Olympics in London, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (24 July to 3 August 2014) is expected to draw a truly diverse audience, from all over the UK and beyond, to Scotland.

The Art Fund

Digital Interpretation

The National Gallery, London and National Galleries of Scotland would like to thank the Art Fund, which is generously supporting a range of digital activities to help raise awareness of the Bridgewater Titians across the UK. These activities include the commissioning of a range of digital material exploring the works, which enable people to explore the works and their context. The material will include audio, film, zoom features and room views and specially commissioned podcasts and interviews and will be particularly valuable to those unable to visit the gallery in person. A new app will be created which explores Titian in the context of his contemporaries and other artists and brings together for the first time, in a virtual gallery, Titian’s Poesie series of six paintings - something that would never be possible in reality.

As part of the programme, and drawing on the award-winning Grand Tour the National Gallery did in London (2007) and York (2008), there will also be a UK tour of large scale reproductions of the Diana and Callisto in interesting and surprising locations.

THE BRIDGEWATER COLLECTION

The Bridgewater Collection counts among the most important collections of Old Master paintings still in private hands anywhere in the world. Works from the collection have been on public view in Great Britain since the early 19th century and its crucial importance to the UK heritage has long been recognised.

The collection was originally formed by Francis Egerton, the 3rd and last Duke

28 February 2012Masterpieces from Bute Collection to be displayed at Scottish National Gallery

A selection of some of the finest Old Master paintings from the famous Bute Collection at Mount Stuart is to go on public display in Scotland for the first time in more than 60 years. Masterpieces from Mount Stuart will be a highlight of the spring exhibition programme at the Scottish National Gallery, featuring superb landscapes, stunning portraits and fascinating scenes of everyday life by artists such as Jan Steen, Pieter de Hooch and Jacob Jordaens.

Mount Stuart, a magnificent Victorian Gothic mansion on the Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde, was built by the 3rd Marquess of Bute and is home to one of the greatest collections of Old Master pictures in the UK. 19 Dutch, Flemish, Early Netherlandish and French masterpieces will be on show and this will be the largest display of works from the estate seen in public since the 1949 Edinburgh Festival.

Among the highlights will be two fabulous rural landscapes by Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), an artist enormously popular with British collectors in the 18th century, and an important winter landscape by Aert van der Neer (1603/04-1677). Jacob van Ruisdael’s impressive Mountain Landscape with a Waterfall (c.1665-70) will be shown alongside a rare winter view of Amsterdam by the artist, appearing for the first time in a public exhibition.

Among the portraits on show will be Jacob Jordaens’s beautiful picture of a girl (probably his daughter) with cherries, from the late 1630s, and Joos van Cleve’s enigmatic Portrait of a Lady (c.1530). The exhibition will also include a remarkable group portrait by Antoine Le Nain (c.1600-48), depicting the artist and his two painter brothers in the studio that they shared in Paris.

One of the most outstanding works in the Bute Collection is Guillam van Haecht’s picture of an imaginary art cabinet – a room housing a rich collection of paintings and artifacts – which is one of only five such works by this Antwerp artist. The painting dates from around 1630 and, although the collection it depicts is an imagery one, most of the artworks can be identified, including Van Dyck’s Mystic Marriage of St Catherine at centre front, which is now in the Royal Collection.

Genre paintings, depicting everyday scenes, will include famous examples by Vermeer’s contemporaries Pieter de Hooch (1629-84) and Gabriel Metsu (1629-67), as well as by Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85), Cornelis Bega (c.1631/32-1664), Jan Steen (1626-1679) and David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690).

Masterpieces from Mount Stuart will also feature a superb and rare guardroom scene by Rembrandt’s pupil Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621-74), a cityscape of Haarlem by Gerrit Berckheyde (1638-98), showing the majestic Church of St Bavo and an unusually large picture by Bartholomeus Breenbergh (1598-1657), depicting the biblical story of Joseph selling corn in Egypt.

The Bute Collection was primarily formed in the late eighteenth century by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and Prime Minister to George III. The collection was displayed at Luton Hoo, the 3rd Earl’s house in Bedfordshire, until it was destroyed by fire in 1843. Over the years, the paintings were placed in a number of Bute family residences, including properties in London and later at Dumfries House and Cardiff Castle. During the 1940s and 1990s, the paintings were transferred to Mount Stuart.

The new house was a replacement for the early Georgian one destroyed by fire in 1877. Mount Stuart is one of the finest examples of Gothic revival architecture in Britain. It was built under John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, and the architect was Sir Robert Rowand Anderson who later designed the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The Medieval inspirations behind the design contrast with its modern technology and building techniques: it had the first electric lighting, modern central heating system, telephone and passenger lift of any house in Scotland; it is also the first house in the modern world to possess an indoor heated swimming pool. Since its opening to the public in 1995, Mount Stuart has been a major visitor attraction in the West of Scotland.

This exhibition has been realised in collaboration and with the support of the 7th Marquess of Bute and Mount Stuart Trust.

9 February 2012Art Gallery presents a portrait of Aberdeen created by local communities as part of an innovative art project.

From 10 February two films by Adam Proctor will be on display alongside a series of photos by Aberdeen residents, stretching the full length of the Gallery’s Studio Space. The project, which is a partnership between National Galleries of Scotland and Aberdeen City Council, presents a portrait of the city based on its characters, communities and landscapes.

Silver City Soul explores the vital role that images play in shaping the contemporary perceptions of a city, its inhabitants, and their creative potential. The exhibition features portraits of individuals and communities who were invited to submit images of their city and its surroundings to Silver City Soul online.

The National Galleries of Scotland outreach team worked with local video artist Adam Proctor to create films that explore the faces and places that make Aberdeen distinctive. Adam has been supported by a core group of active participants in exploring the living heart of the city. His two films, projected onto the gallery walls, present a changing city reflected in the faces of its inhabitant and by the locations chosen by the group to represent their city.

“We’re very excited about enabling Aberdonians to re-envisage their city by collaborating to create these video portraits. This exemplifies the National Galleries of Scotland’s belief in the power of portraits and our commitment to help represent the people and the regions of Scotland as part of the educational programme of the new Scottish National Portrait Gallery. We’re helping to put a face to the place and showing the creative power of the people of Aberdeen.”

Aberdeen City Council's Acting Community Arts Manager for Arts Development Elspeth Winram, said:

'Silver City Soul has been a fantastic opportunity for groups in Aberdeen and Arts Development to link with National Galleries of Scotland through a Vibrant Aberdeen Cultural Grant.

'Local people involved in creating video portraits have linked up with National Collections and have in their words ‘learned new creative skills’ through the NGS educational programme. It has been brilliant to be part of this innovative project and represent Aberdeen on a national platform.'

Ends.

Notes to editors:

- The National Galleries of Scotland’s nationwide education programme complementing the major refurbishment of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which reopened in December 2011, is called Portrait of the Nation: Live!

An outstanding private collection of lithographs and woodcuts by the celebrated Norwegian artist Edvard Munch will be shown in the UK for the first time this spring at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Edvard Munch: Graphic Works from The Gundersen Collection – which opens on April 7 – will feature over fifty of Munch’s most important prints including a number of unique, hand-coloured impressions by the artist, among them an extraordinary version of the world-famous The Scream. This rare work is one of only two hand-coloured versions of the iconic print – the other is held in the Munch Museum, Oslo.

Pål Georg Gundersen was inspired to build his collection following his encounter with the artist’s painting The Sick Child in the National Gallery of Norway and several impressions of the related print will be included in the show in Edinburgh. By focusing on prints, the Gundersen collection introduces the intensity and directness of Munch’s work and provides an insight into his pioneering exploration of universal concerns that made him one of the most influential artists of his day.

Graphic Works from The Gundersen Collection draws out the themes of love, human relationships, death, melancholy and anxiety that preoccupied Munch throughout his career. Through multiple versions of many of the images, the exhibition investigates Munch’s rigorous experimentation as he revisited and reworked subjects to heighten their emotive impact and to explore colour, texture and techniques. This unique collection shows the working processes behind some of the most startling and iconic images of the late 19th and early 20th century. For example, visitors will be able to compare three different versions of Madonna and five examples of Vampire II.

Edvard Munch was born in Norway in 1863. Many of the artist’s most poignant and arresting pieces are the prints he made throughout his long career, and these works express both Munch’s technical mastery and artistic vision. Print-making appealed to Munch for the opportunity they gave in disseminating his images to a wider public, and he was innovative in the different processes and methods that he employed to create such works. As well as frequently printing his own subjects, Munch also worked with master printers in Paris and Berlin, where he spent much of his time over the turn of the 20th century and where his work was regularly exhibited.

The exhibition will be supplemented with additional prints by Munch that are held on long-term loan by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art from two further private collectors. It will also feature a special display focusing on the legacy of the artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK, staged in Edinburgh in 1931, that will explore how Munch’s work has been experienced and received in Scotland. Works by other artists from the Gallery’s permanent collection will be shown on the ground floor at Modern Two, in displays introducing the European context in which Munch was active and highly influential, particularly in the realms of Symbolism and Expressionism.

This spring, a fascinating new exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery will explore the versatile and beautiful drawing medium of red chalk. Comprising some 35 works from the Gallery’s world-class collection, Red Chalk: Raphael to Ramsay will showcase a diverse range of exquisite drawings by distinguished artists, such as Peter Paul Rubens, Salvator Rosa, Jean-Antoine Watteau, Francois Boucher and David Allan. The display will feature works which, due to their delicate nature are rarely on show, as well as a number of drawings being exhibited for the first time.

Red chalk was first used for drawing on paper in late-15th century Italy. Chalk is a naturally occurring mineral, quarried directly from the earth then cut into drawing sticks which can be hand-held or chipped into a point and set into a holder. Drawing chalk can also be made, using ground up natural chalk mixed with water to form a paste then rolled into drawing sticks. This display will highlight the ways in which artists have, over the centuries, exploited the unique nature of red chalk to produce an array of dazzling and distinctive effects that cannot be achieved with any other drawing medium.

The earliest drawing on display, and a highlight of the show, will be Raphael’s Study of a Kneeling Nude. This beautiful life-study was made in about 1518 and is a preparatory drawing for one of a series of Raphael’s painted frescos. The delicately drawn figure reveals not only the artist’s phenomenal skill as a draughtsman, but also his meticulous preparation for each composition.

Rosa’s powerful and arresting mid-17th century drawing, Head of a Bearded Man, is a fantastic example of red chalk being used to produce a highly expressive finished drawing, intended as a piece of art in its own right. A sheet of figurative studies by the influential Baroque draughtsman Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (1708–87), reveals the incredible precision and control that can be achieved with red chalk, whilst Rubens’ Four Women Harvesting from c.1630 demonstrates how effectively chalk can be used for rapid sketching, with the simplest and most minimal strokes.

Red chalk experienced a surge in popularity with French artists in the 18th century. Drawings in the display by Watteau and Boucher will showcase how the medium was used by artists of the Rococo period to produce highly decorative and elegant drawings. Studies by Fragonard and Hubert will also provide superb examples of red chalk being chosen as a useful medium for highly evocative depictions of the landscape.

Other highlights will include a preparatory study by Guercino for his monumental oil painting of Erminia Finding the Wounded Tancred (currently displayed in the main gallery), and the Scottish portrait painter Allan Ramsay’s iconic drawing from 1776 of his second wife, Margaret Lindsay. The show will also include works by artists David Allan, William Delacour and Archibald Skirving to illustrate how the medium was adopted in Scotland.

Whether used to draw a detailed study from nature, a summary sketch or a highly polished finished drawing, red chalk is an enduringly popular, richly expressive and unique medium for draughtsmen. Red Chalk: Raphael to Ramsay will showcase the breadth and variety of the Gallery’s drawings collection whilst providing a wonderful opportunity to see beautiful and accomplished drawings by a selection of our most admired artists.

JAMES HOLLOWAY CBE TO RETIRE FROM THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

The National Galleries of Scotland announces today that James Holloway CBE will retire from his post as Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery at the end of January 2012.

James Holloway (b. 1948) began his career in Scotland back in 1972 as a Research Assistant and Assistant Keeper at the National Gallery of Scotland (Department of Prints and Drawings). After a period as Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Wales from 1980-1983, he returned to Scotland, joining the Portrait Gallery as Deputy Keeper. In 1997 he followed Dr Duncan Thomson as Keeper of the PG, a position later re-titled as Director.

As a scholar and curator James Holloway is probably best known for his work on Scottish art. His major projects included the exhibitions The Discovery of Scotland and Patrons and Painters: Art in Scotland 1650-1760 and Speaking Likeness: the latter project integrated archival voice recordings with the Portrait Gallery’s collection. Holloway edited the National Galleries of Scotland's series of booklets, Scottish Masters for which he wrote the volumes on James Tassie, Jacob More, William Aikman and the Norie family. He has published numerous articles and has lectured frequently on Scottish art and collections.

Holloway led the highly successful project to refurbish and revitalize the SNPG which reopened on 1st December last year, on time and within budget. Since then over 80,000 visitors have flocked through the doors and the PG has attracted many favourable reviews both nationally and internationally.

Outside the National Galleries, he has been a member of the Collections Advisory Panel of the National Trust for Scotland and serves on the committees of the Hopetoun Preservation Trust and the Paxton House Trust.

John Leighton, Director-General of NGS comments: 'James has enjoyed an extraordinarily successful career at the Galleries as an author, curator, exhibition organiser and manager. And of course James ends his time at the Galleries on the highest possible note, shortly after the extremely successful reopening of the Portrait Gallery, a project which owes so much to his vision, leadership and passion. It has long been an open and rather badly kept secret that James intended to retire after the reopening of the new Portrait Gallery but it is still hard to imagine the Gallery without him. We are immensely grateful for all that he has achieved in a distinguished career here at the Galleries.'

Ben Thomson, Chairman of NGS comments: 'It is very fitting that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, full of the pictures of so many interesting people both past and present, should have been run by such a charismatic director as James. He leaves a legacy of a vibrant and successfully renovated gallery that seeks to set the current search for Scotland's identity into Scotland's rich heritage. He will be missed both by the staff and the many visitors who knew him.'

The National Galleries has appointed Nicola Kalinsky, Chief Curator and Deputy Director to be the Interim Director of the PG. The search to find a successor for James Holloway is now underway and will be assisted by Odgers Berndtson, www.odgersberndtson.co.uk.

For further information please contact the National Galleries of Scotland press office on 0131 624 6325/6247/6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

-ENDS-

11 January 2012Tate and National Galleries of Scotland Appoint New Managing Curator for ARTIST ROOMS

TATE AND NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND APPOINT NEW MANAGING CURATOR FOR ARTIST ROOMS

Tate and National Galleries of Scotland have appointed Amy Dickson as the new Managing Curator of ARTIST ROOMS. Amy Dickson has been an Assistant Curator at Tate Modern since 2005 and started her new role on 9 January 2012. Amy will be based in London and Edinburgh and will manage ARTIST ROOMS, the inspirational collection of modern and contemporary donated in 2008 by Anthony d’Offay to Tate and National Galleries of Scotland.

Amy has worked on many exhibition projects at Tate Modern including Cildo Meireles, Gauguin: Maker of Myth and most recently, Gerhard Richter: Panorama. She is also writing a book on Richter in the Modern Artists series for Tate Publishing, which will be published next year. She takes over from Lucy Askew who is now a Senior Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.

Amy Dickson commented: 'I am delighted to be taking up the position of Managing Curator, ARTIST ROOMS and very much look forward to working with the teams in Edinburgh and London, as well as the partnership organisations around the UK to help to realise Anthony d'Offay's vision for this wonderful collection, to inspire people, and especially young people, through art.'

ARTIST ROOMS was established through the generosity of Anthony d’Offay with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. Since then, an annual UK tour of this outstanding contemporary art collection has been made possible thanks to the support of the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art that helps museums buy, show and share art throughout the UK. ARTIST ROOMS On Tour with the Art Fund has been devised to enable this collection to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people

In 2012, ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays will be seen in Banff, Belfast, Bristol, Dunoon, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leicester, Linlithgow, Liverpool, London, Middlesbrough, Perth, Sheffield, Wakefield and Walsall. A further venue, Mostyn in Llandudno will continue to show the work of Anselm Kiefer into the New Year. By the end of 2012, ARTIST ROOMS will have been shown in 44 museums and galleries nationwide and 92 displays and exhibitions will have opened since 2009.

To find out more information about ARTIST ROOMS On Tour please visit www.artfund.org. To see the full ARTIST ROOMS collection please visit www.tate.org.uk/artistrooms and www.nationalgalleries.org/artistrooms

The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. It offers many ways of enjoying art through the National Art Pass which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million to 248 museums and galleries to buy art. It also sponsors the UK tour of the ARTIST ROOMS collection – reaching several million people each year, and fundraises to help museums buys works of art. It is funded entirely by almost 90,000 supporters who believe great art should be for everyone to enjoy. Find out more about the Art Fund and how to buy a National Art Pass at www.artfund.org. Media contact 020 7225 4888, media@artfund.org

20 December 2011Scottish National Gallery announces a major new Turner acquisition

The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to announce a major new acquisition, Rome from Monte Mario (1820) by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). This stunning watercolour has recently been allocated to the Scottish National Gallery through the Acceptance in Lieu of Tax scheme and will take pride of place in the Gallery’s much-loved Turner in January exhibition. Rome from Monte Mario will strengthen this outstanding, annual display, illustrating an aspect of the artist’s work not previously represented. The show is renowned for providing a thoughtful counterpoint to the more energetic celebrations of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, and offering a welcome injection of light and colour during the darkest month of the year.

Turner was perhaps the most prolific and innovative of all British artists and his skills have been much admired ever since his lifetime. Rome from Monte Mario is one of his finest watercolours and was made after his first visit to Rome, between August 1819 and February 1820. Turner was delighted and overwhelmed by the trip: the ancient remains, profusion of Renaissance and Baroque buildings, and splendour of the city’s setting fired his imagination. This delicate and sophisticated work was created as part of a set of Italian scenes for his friend and patron Walter Fawkes (1769-1825).

The view Turner chose for the watercolour is unusual and highly ambitious. He depicted the city at sunset, looking in a south-easterly direction from just below the top of Monte Mario. On the right is the dome of St Peter’s; just to the right of the centre of the composition is the Castel Sant’ Angelo, and further to the left the Campidoglio. The Via Angelico is the road that cuts across the fields in the foreground and is flanked by smoke from bonfires, curling up into the golden evening light. An idyllic image of a boy playing pipes to a demure girl in the forefront completes the scene.

Rome from Monte Mario formed part of the very distinguished Turner collection created by the Scottish shipping magnate and educational benefactor Sir Donald Currie (1825-1909), who founded the Castle (later, Union Castle) Steamship Company.

This work will join the Scottish National Gallery’s superb collection of 38 Turner watercolours which were bequeathed in 1899 by English collector Henry Vaughan (1809-1899). Vaughan’s bequest is renowned for providing the perfect introduction to Turner’s career and features a number of beautiful watercolours of Venice. This depiction of Rome is a wonderful addition to the existing collection.

Turner was born in London, the son of a barber and wig-maker, and soon proved himself as an accomplished topographical draughtsman. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1790, and was elected an Academician by the age of 26. From the 1790s he undertook sketching tours in England, Wales and Scotland, gathering material for watercolours and oil paintings, and gradually discovering the attractions of awe-inspiring mountainous landscapes, which became a major pre-occupation in his work. In 1802 he made his first journey to Europe. He was to return in 1817, after the end of the Napoleonic wars, and from then on made annual visits across the Channel for much of the rest of his life. These journeys were usually undertaken in the summer and included explorations of the great rivers of northern Europe, as well as excursions into Italy.

Vaughan probably met Turner in the 1840s and built a remarkable collection of his drawings and watercolours, which spanned much of the artist’s career, and only included works in fine condition. He was inspired to bequeath his Turners to public collections by the great critic John Ruskin (1809-1899), who had donated works by the artist to museums. Vaughan was aware of the importance of conserving watercolours, which can easily fade if over-exposed, and so he specified that his Turners should only be displayed during January. His wishes have always been respected and this inspired tradition has now continued for over 110 years.

ENDS

For further information and images, please call the Press Office on 0131 624 6325/ 332/ 314

pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

Notes to Editors:

Turner in January is sponsored by People’s Postcode Lottery.

Acceptance in Lieu of Tax (AIL) scheme enables UK taxpayers to transfer important works of art into public ownership. In this instance this was achieved with no cost to the NGS.

The Scottish National Gallery is open on 1 January from 12 noon until 5 pm; from 2 January opening hours revert to normal: Monday to Sunday 10 am – 5 pm, Thursday 10 am –7 pm.

National Galleries of Scotland publications available on the subject include:

J. M.W. Turner, the Vaughan Bequest (£9.95)

Turner’s Italy (£4.95)

English Drawings and Watercolours 1600-1900 (£125)

15 December 2011Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art announces definitive look at 110 years of Sculpture

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art announces definitive look at 110 years of Sculpture including works from Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas through to Ron Mueck and 2011 Turner Prize winner, Martin Boyce.

A major new exhibition, which will use the extraordinary collection at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to explore the development of sculpture over the last 110 years, will open in Edinburgh this week. The Sculpture Show will highlight the enormous diversity of sculptural practice in this period, bringing together some 150 works, by artists such as Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas, Barbara Hepworth and Damien Hirst. This fascinating overview of Modern and Contemporary sculpture will also include key loans from private and public collections, and will bring the story right up to date, with works by this year’s Turner Prize winner Martin Boyce and nominee Karla Black.

Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art said:

'The Sculpture Show gives us a fantastic opportunity to showcase the huge strengths of the collection in innovative ways. It also allows us to celebrate the specific strengths of contemporary art in Scotland, with the inclusion of works by this year’s Turner Prize nominee Karla Black and winner Martin Boyce, as well as past winners including Simon Starling, Martin Creed and Douglas Gordon. With major international loans and new commissions, this history of sculpture is the history of how art became contemporary.'

The Sculpture Show will take over both floors of the Gallery’s main building, and also extend into the grounds, where a recent work by Roger Hiorns has been installed on Charles Jencks’s Landform. Comprising two decommissioned aircraft engines from the United States Air Force, this spectacular work is on loan from the Arts Council Collection and is being shown for the first time in the UK. It joins an array of sculpture on permanent display in the grounds of the Gallery’s two buildings, Modern One and Two.

The exhibition will demonstrate the depth, richness and range of sculpture in the Gallery’s collection. It will begin with collages, reliefs and assemblages made by Cubist, Surrealist and Constructivist artists in the early 20th Century (including masterpieces by Picasso and Man Ray), and will demonstrate the continuing influence of these techniques throughout the century, up to contemporary artists such as Toby Paterson. Other highlights from the first half of the century will include Impressionist sculptures by Degas, Rodin and Medardo Rosso, as well as displays devoted to Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein (including Epstein’s rarely seen monumental alabaster carving Consummatum Est (1936-7)).

After a worldwide tour, Ron Mueck’s monumental work A Girl (2006) has returned to Edinburgh to form the centrepiece of The Sculpture Show. The 5-metre mixed-media sculpture of a newborn baby, rendered in breathtaking detail on an enormous scale, was acquired following the phenomenally successful Mueck exhibition, which drew over 130,000 visitors at the Scottish National Gallery in 2006. A Girl will feature in a display devoted to Super-realist sculpture, which will also include Duane Hanson’s celebrated Tourists. Further rooms illustrate the impact of surrealism on sculpture of, or about the human body including works by Marcel Duchamp, Sarah Lucas, Giacometti and Hans Bellmer.

The upper galleries will chart developments in sculpture from the 1960s onwards, exploring the ways in which the definition of the artform has expanded in the last 50 years. Crucial to this is the work of artists such as Joseph Beuys, Donald Judd, Ian Hamilton Finlay and Bruce McLean and six new works by the Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of the key members of the Arte Povera movement of the 1960s, and one of the elder statesmen of contemporary art. The Way Things Go by Peter Fischli and David Weiss brings film and video into The Sculpture Show, the enchanting 29 minute film features a large kinetic sculpture which comes to life as a 100 foot long chain reaction.

A striking late work by American Minimalist artist Sol LeWitt has been specially installed for the exhibition. Wall Drawing #1136 (2004) covers three walls of a single room, and reaches almost 22 metres in length. The work, which took a team of eight people a month to complete, immerses the viewer in a vibrant world of colour. It comprises 149 vertical bands, hand-painted in an irregular sequence of primary and secondary colours, intersected by the sweeping curved form which snakes around the room. This work, which is part of the ARTIST ROOMS collection, has never before been on display in Scotland.

Throughout the exhibition, a series of changing displays of recent sculpture will be shown. The first of these will be devoted to leading Glasgow-based sculptor Nick Evans, who is currently exploring the collection as part of a SNGMA / Creative Scotland Fellowship.

A series of exquisite photographs by Turner Prize winner Martin Boyce, which give the viewer an insight into the artists’ research and inspirations, will also be on display. These images will be shown in conjunction with Untitled (After Rietveld), a haunting fluorescent light work by Boyce which was recently gifted to the galleries.

The Arts Council Collection is one of Britain’s foremost national collections of post-war British Art and is run by Southbank Centre on behalf of Arts Council England. As a collection 'without walls', it has no permanent gallery; it can be seen on long term loan to museums, galleries, schools, hospitals, colleges and charitable associations and in touring exhibitions and displays at home and abroad. It is also, importantly, the most widely circulated and easily accessible collection of its kind, with nearly 8000 works available for loan.

Established in 1946 to promote and enrich knowledge of contemporary art, the Collection continues to acquire works by artists, many at an early stage of their career, living and working in Britain and to foster the widest possible access to modern and contemporary across the UK. It includes work by Francis Bacon, Tracey Emin, Lucian Freud, Antony Gormley, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Henry Moore, Bridget Riley and Wolfgang Tillmans. Recent exhibitions of works from the Collection, created in collaboration with Hayward Touring, include Unpopular Culture: Grayson Perry curates from the Arts Council Collection, and Now Showing I & II. In 2009 the Arts Council Collection launched the Flashback series which showcases world-renowned British artists whose works were acquired early on by the Collection, including Bridget Riley (2010) and Anish Kapoor (2011). Access to the Collection can be found at www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk.

ARTIST ROOMSThe Art Fund is the national fundraising charity, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. It offers many ways of enjoying art through the National Art Pass which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million to 248 museums and galleries to buy art. It also sponsors the UK tour of the ARTIST ROOMS collection – reaching several million people each year, and fundraises to help museums buys works of art. It is funded entirely by its 80,000 supporters who believe great art should be for everyone to enjoy. Find out more about the Art Fund and how to buy a National Art Pass at www.artfund.org. Media contact 020 7225 4888, media@artfund.orgARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments.

1 December 2011Scottish National Portrait Gallery Opens Following £17.6 Million Transformation

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) will open on 1 December, following an ambitious £17.6m restoration project and with an entirely new presentation of its world-famous collection. The project – the first major refurbishment in the Gallery’s 120-year history – has restored much of the architect’s original vision, opening up previously inaccessible parts of the building and increasing the public space by more than 60 percent. It has also added a range of new facilities that will utterly transform visitors’ experience of the Gallery. Entry to the new Portrait Gallery will be completely free.

The Collection

The SNPG opened in 1889 as the world’s first purpose-built portrait gallery and is now an iconic landmark in the heart of Scotland’s capital. Over the past century, its collection of portraits has grown to become one of the largest and finest in the world, comprising 3,000 paintings and sculptures, 25,000 prints and drawings. This distinctive red sandstone building also houses the national collection of photography with some 38,000 historic and modern photographs.

For the first time since the Gallery was established, access to the exhibition spaces on all three levels has been opened up, while the restoration of the magnificent suite of top-lit galleries on the upper floor has created one of the most impressive display spaces in Scotland. As a result, a much greater proportion of the collection will be on show, bringing to light a wealth of art works that has been, until now, largely hidden from view.

The New Displays

The new displays will follow a chronological pattern but will also focus on various themes and subjects in greater depth, exploring the richness of Scottish history and culture in a more cohesive and interconnected way, and telling the story of its people and places through the lens of the visual arts. Individual portraits – from Mary, Queen of Scots to Dr Who actor Karen Gillan – will be set in a broader context of thematic displays ranging from the Reformation to the present day.

Supported by loans from other collections, and by a fresh approach to information and interpretation, including trails, themes and an interactive touchscreen gallery, this new presentation of the permanent collection will help bring to life the portraits and the stories behind them, as well as exploring many facets of Scottish life and the nation’s wider influence throughout the world. The displays are designed to change and evolve so that over time, the public will have access to different aspects of this extraordinarily rich and diverse collection.

The Photography Gallery

The new Portrait Gallery will, for the first time, include a major space dedicated to showcasing the Gallery’s unparalleled holdings of Scottish and international photography, as well as newly commissioned work by contemporary photographers. The significance of photography will be emphasised throughout the Gallery, where it will be integrated into many of the displays.

The Contemporary Gallery

On the ground floor, the Contemporary Gallery will bring the story up to date, with a series of displays from the Gallery’s collection of contemporary portraits, special loan exhibitions, and commissions from some of Scotland’s most celebrated contemporary artists. The inaugural display will feature Missing,a video installation by Graham Fagen, commissioned as part of a unique partnership between the Portrait Gallery and the National Theatre of Scotland.

The Building

The refurbishment of the Gallery, a magnificent Arts and Crafts building designed by the celebrated architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, has been overseen by Glasgow-based architects Page Park. Their sensitive design has restored many of the building’s original features, which had been hidden behind an accumulation of twentieth-century interventions, while incorporating essential modern services, such as the great glass lift that will take visitors up through the heart of the building. The remodeling of the ground floor has improved circulation for visitors, as well as providing an open and airy view along the entire length of the building. Office space has been cleverly accommodated in a new mezzanine level and, for the first time there is an education suite, with a seminar room and studio space. In addition, the Gallery’s ever-popular café and shop have doubled in size.

The refurbished Gallery will also make use of a number of pioneering techniques to achieve a significant reduction in energy consumption. Using the mass of the building, new insulation and sophisticated controls to permit slow changes over wider ranges of temperature and humidity, the gallery spaces will use 42 percent less energy that previously. In addition, the Gallery will be lit by cutting-edge, low-energy LEDs (light-emitting diodes) which combine economy with excellent colour rendering qualities.

The Learning Programme

An extensive and dynamic learning programme complementing the new displays, called Portrait of the Nation: Live! will be an integral part of the re-invention of the SNPG. This has been devised to engage a very broad range of visitors, both on- and off-site, as well as on-line. It will help to realise our vision of the Portrait Gallery as a unique, responsive and essential portrayal of Scotland that will stimulate, engage and build relationships with audiences both at home and abroad.

Funding

The £17.6 million refurbishment has been funded by generous contributions from the Scottish Government, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Monument Trust and a number of charitable bodies. This has been supported by an innovative and engaging public campaign which has given donors the chance to sponsor historical figures in the stunning frieze created by William Hole in the Gallery’s Great Hall; individual stars in Hole’s mural mapping of the night sky, which adorns the Hall’s ceiling; or to include a photograph in 'Put Yourself in the Picture', an electronic donor screen and online gallery.

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, commented: 'The new SNPG will be a superb setting to showcase rich traditions of Scottish art and photography; it is also a forum where issues of history and identity come to life through art; perhaps, above all, it is a place where individual and collective stories and memories come together to create a fascinating and imaginative portrait of a nation.'

James Holloway, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, added:'Scotland’s national portraits at last have a home worthy of them. Our great iconic building now looks tremendous and is the perfect showcase for our rich and unique collection.'

First Minister Alex Salmond said: 'The Scottish National Portrait Gallery celebrates well-known Scots from throughout the ages; whether they are some of our greatest thinkers or our modern actors and actresses. All aspects of Scottish life and achievement are encapsulated in the many artworks which will now be displayed to their utmost as part of this ambitious £17.6m restoration project. The improvements to the magnificent building will allow visitors to experience much of what architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson envisaged in his original design as it continues to showcase Scotland’s greatest asset – its people.'

Colin McLean, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, said: 'The restoration of this magnificent building will allow visitors to appreciate its architect’s original vision while showcasing Scotland at its very best. The opportunity to view substantially more of the Gallery’s treasures and take part in imaginative interpretation trails and education activities will delight visitors of all ages. HLF is proud to be a partner in this magnificent transformation which is set to make a significant contribution to our culture, society and tourist economy.'

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries Press Office on 0131 624 6325/6247/6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

Some of Scotland’s most famous faces from Sir Sean Connery to David Tennant are to appear in a new collection of photographic portraits which will be unveiled in the refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery when it opens on Thursday 1 December.

Hot Scots, a display of 18 works, recently acquired for the national collection will feature well known Scottish names from TV, film and music including current Hollywood stars James McAvoy and Gerard Butler. Among the other new portraits on show will be images of Dr Who actor Karen Gillan, writer Armando Iannucci, singer Paolo Nutini, Michelin star chef Tom Kitchin and artist and playwright John Byrne. The portraits have been taken by celebrated photographers from Eva Vermandel to Albert Watson.

Award winning Scottish photographer Albert Watson’s first photograph to be added to the National Galleries of Scotland’s permanent collection is Watson’s iconic 2003 portrait of Sir Sean Connery. Donations to Hot Scots also include David Eustace’s 2010 portraits of artist and playwright John Byrne and Ken Dundas’ 2011 portrait of actor Robert Carlyle.

The new Scottish National Portrait Gallery will, for the first time, include a major space dedicated to showcasing the Gallery’s unparalleled holdings of Scottish and international photography, as well as newly commissioned work by contemporary photographers. Alongside Hot Scots the significance of photography is highlighted throughout the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Romantic Camera: Scottish Photography and the Modern World, Migration Stories: Pakistan and Close Encounters: Thomas Annan’s Glasgow.

Hot Scots will be shown in the new Contemporary Gallery on the ground floor. Home to special loan exhibitions and a series of displays from the Gallery’s collection of contemporary portraits, the new exhibition space will also feature commissions from some of Scotland’s most celebrated contemporary artists. The opening displays include Missing, a video installation by Graham Fagen, commissioned as part of a unique partnership between the Portrait Gallery and the National Theatre of Scotland.

James Holloway, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said:

'It is absolutely right that faces as familiar as David Tennant and Karen Gillan should be on show in the new Portrait Gallery. The Gallery is about Scotland today as well as Scotland of old.'

The National Galleries of Scotland will announce today, Wednesday 26 October, their 2012 Public Programme. From the sublime Van Gogh to Kandinsky to the engaging Picassoand Modern British Art; from the fascinating realism of Giovanni Battista Lusieri to a retrospective of the major Scottish artist John Bellany, there is something to suit all tastes. With the opening of the recently refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery on 1 December 2011, the national collection will be presented in a brand new and dynamic way, combining a chronological overview with thematic presentations. As a result, the National Galleries will be able to offer a superb spectrum of exhibitions and events to its visitors in 2012.

Giovanni Battista LusieriScottish National Gallery, 30 June to 28 October 2012

This exhibition will be the first ever devoted exclusively to the impressive and stunningly beautiful work of an artist long deserving of much greater recognition. Giovanni Battista Lusieri was born in Rome in 1754 and died in Athens in 1821. He was active principally as a landscape watercolourist, specializing in broad panoramas and cityscapes, and ancient buildings and monuments. Lusieri was considered by many of his contemporaries to be the most skilful landscape painter of his day. He was admired above all for the accuracy and minute precision of his views, and for his breathtaking ability to capture the effects of brilliant Mediterranean light. His career falls neatly into two halves – the Italian period (up to 1799), when he worked in Rome, Naples and Sicily, and the Greek period (1800-1821), when he was employed as Lord Elgin’s resident artist and agent in Athens. He was closely involved in the removal, packing and shipping of the Elgin Marbles. The exhibition will feature the best of Lusieri’s surviving work, including an important group of watercolours and drawings still in the collection of the Elgin family, and a spectacular nine-foot wide view of the Bay of Naples from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Landscapes of the ImaginationScottish National Gallery, 14 July to 14 October 2012

This ground-breaking exhibition is an international collaboration between the National Galleries of Scotland, the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and the Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki. It will be the first exhibition dedicated to Symbolist Landscape in Europe, the innovative movement that developed after Impressionism, as artists created a more imaginative and emotional approach to landscape painting, embracing themes such as music, nationalism, science and modernity. The exhibition will present a stunning range of poetic and suggestive interpretations of nature, including arcadian idylls, the landscape of dreams, silent cities and the power of the cosmos. It will focus on major artists of the avant-garde such as Gauguin, Van Gogh, Munch, Mondrian and Kandinsky, and also showcase other brilliantly inventive artists from throughout Europe such as Hammershøi, Hodler, Khnopff and Gallen-Kallela who will be set alongside the visionary British artistry of Crane, Leighton, Watts and Millais in a show which will write a new chapter in the history of landscape painting.

The Sculpture ShowScottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 17 December 2011 to 24 June 2012

This winter the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One will be given over entirely to sculpture in all its many forms. Works from the collection will be shown alongside several major works on loan to provide an overview of the depth, range and breadth of sculpture from 1900 to now. The exhibition will feature thematic and monographic displays and will include photography, film and documentary material relating to sculpture and its legacies. After a worldwide tour, Ron Mueck’s monumental work A Girl (2006) returns to Edinburgh to form the centrepiece of the show. Displays will include Impressionist sculpture, with works by Rodin and Degas; collage & relief; early twentieth century British sculpture, including Hepworth and Moore; Surrealist works by Giacometti and Duchamp; and post-war sculpture by Paolozzi and Turnbull. Contemporary sculpture displays will include works by Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Simon Starling, as well as this year’s Turner Prize nominees Martin Boyce and Karla Black. Also on display will be new work by Nick Evans, a Creative Scotland Fellowship Artist, who has been undertaking a period of research within the galleries over the past six months.

Picasso and Modern British ArtScottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 4 August to 4 November 2012

The first exhibition to explore Pablo Picasso’s lifelong connections with Britain will be the highlight of the summer season at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2012. Picasso and Modern British Art will examine Picasso’s evolving critical reputation here and British artists’ responses to his work. Originating at Tate Britain, this pioneering show marks the first time that the two organisations have collaborated on a major exhibition. The exhibition will comprise over 150 works from major public and private collections around the world, including over 60 paintings by Picasso. Highlights will include masterpieces from all periods of his career such as his great 1925 painting, The Three Dancers, which the Tate acquired from the artist following his 1960 exhibition and major cubist paintings from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Among the British artists for whom Picasso proved an important stimulus, and whose work will be included in the show, are Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Francis Bacon.

The Scottish Colourist Series: S J PeploeScottish National Gallery of Modern Art, October 2012 – March 2013

The autumn of 2012 will see the second in the Scottish Colourist Series of exhibitions with a retrospective of the work of S J Peploe. Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935) was the eldest of the four artists popularly known as ‘The Scottish Colourists’, the others being F C B Cadell, J D Fergusson and G L Hunter. Born in Edinburgh, Peploe studied there and in Paris, where he lived from 1910 until 1912. Through Fergusson, he became acquainted with the Parisian avant-garde and the latest developments in French paintings. He began to use bold colour and structured brushstrokes and concentrated on the genres of the still life and landscape for the rest of his life. Cadell introduced him to the Hebridean island of Iona in 1920 and they were to return regularly thereafter; Peploe also painted in other parts of Scotland and in France. He was the first of the Colourists to receive recognition from the Scottish establishment when he was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1927, eight years before his death in Edinburgh in 1935. The Scottish Colourist Series: S J Peploe will consist of approximately 70 paintings from both public and private collections, covering his entire career, including many which have rarely, if ever, been exhibited before. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue, based on new research, which will be the first major monograph on the artist to be written in over a decade.

John Bellany: A Passion for LifeScottish National Gallery, 17 November 2012 to 27 January 2013

John Bellany (born 1942) helped change the course of painting in Scotland. His intensely felt paintings of fisher-folk and their precarious life at sea were a direct challenge to the by then much diluted Scottish colourist tradition and its landscapes and still lifes. The sheer size and raw emotion of Bellany’s canvases, their depictions of a way of life that the artist knew from growing up in a Port Seton fishing family and their elevation of that life onto a symbolic level were very much at odds with the decorative drawing-room pictures of much contemporary Scottish painting in the 1960s. This exhibition marking John Bellany’s 70th birthday will contain paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints from all the key periods of the artist’s career. Beginning with the celebrated large-scale paintings of fisher-folk and their boats that Bellany hung on the railings outside the Royal Scottish Academy building in the mid-1960s; through the darker, even harrowing pictures of the early 1970s that show the impact of Bellany’s visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany; the wild, expressionist paintings of the late 1970s and early 1980s, that seem to explode and disintegrate as Bellany battled with his inner demons; the remarkably honest and courageous watercolours and drawings that Bellany made about his liver transplant and near miraculous recovery; to the richly coloured allegorical paintings that the artist has produced since then reflecting a renewed vigour and optimism as he travelled the world and set down roots in Italy, England and, of course Scotland. This will be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of John Bellany’s work since the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art organised the retrospective in 1986.

Romantic Camera: Scottish Photography and the Modern WorldScottish National Portrait Gallery, 30 November 2011 to 3 June 2012

Romantic Camera is the first exhibition within the new Photography Gallery in the refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery. This space will display a rolling programme of shows and exhibitions throughout the year. Romantic Camera will explore for the first time the highly charged relationship between romanticism and photography in Scotland. This exhibition suggests that rather than vanishing during the 1840s, the romantic impulse has been vital to the development of the medium, up to and including the present day. Romanticism emerged as a literary form in the 1790s and had a powerful impact on Scottish culture, particularly through the influence of the poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott. Photography in Scotland was born in Scott’s shadow and was profoundly shaped by his creative imagination. Characterised by nostalgic longing, nineteenth-century photographers hunted out traces of Scotland’s turbulent history or ranged across the landscape in search of poetic subjects. Showcasing over 40 different photographers, the exhibition will includes works by Adamson and Hill, Julia Margaret Cameron, James Craig Annan, Bill Brandt, Oscar Marzaroli, Michael Reisch and Zwelethu Mthethwa.

A New Look to nationalgalleries.org

Nationalgalleries.org will re-launch today with a new look and a greater focus on the unique aspects of the three galleries across Edinburgh. New features include interactive floorplans and trails, gallery visit hub sections, bringing together information about the range of facilities, events and activities available to visitors, and a completely revised What's On section designed to reflect the breadth of the Galleries’ public programme. Improvements have been made to the site's usability, and changes made to enhance compatibility with mobile browsing and touchscreen devices, and integrate our social media channels. Find out more at www.nationalgalleries.org.

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland press office on 0131 624 6325 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

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20 October 2011New Scottish and French Acquisitions for the Scottish National Gallery

BUILDING A COLLECTION: New Scottish and French Acquisitions for the Scottish National Gallery

The Scottish National Gallery is delighted to announce two important acquisitions to the national collection. Entrance to the Cuiraing, Skye (1873) by Waller Hugh Paton (1828-1895) has been purchased for the collection by the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland and Portrait of Jean-François Regnault (1815) by Jean-Baptiste, baron Regnault (1754-1829) has been acquired for the nation thanks to the generosity of a private donor.

Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, said; ‘It is vitally important that we continue to add significant works, both Scottish and European, to this wonderful and very distinctive collection. Paton’s landscape is our first Scottish landscape of the world-famous Isle of Skye,and Regnault’s portrait of his son is our first ‘Romantic’ French portrait. We are deeply grateful to our Patrons and to a private donor for their magnificent support.”

Entrance to the Cuiraing, Skye (1873) by Waller Hugh Paton, was purchased from Bourne Fine Art in Edinburgh with the generous support of the Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland. Scotland’s most prolific and successful Pre-Raphaelite landscape painter was previously not represented in the national collection of Scottish art by a single oil – an omission which the Gallery has been seeking to rectify for almost ten years. Completed in 1873, this spectacular example of Paton’s mature landscape painting also strengthens very substantially the pictorial representation of the Highlands throughout the National Galleries and is the most important view of Skye in the Scottish National Gallery apart from J M W Turner’s exceptional watercolour of Loch Coruisk (1831), conceived as an illustration to The Lord of the Isles by Sir Walter Scott.

Like his older brother Sir Joseph Noel Paton, who is internationally known for his fairy pictures illustrating A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Waller Hugh Paton began his professional career in Dunfermline, designing damask patterns for his father. At the age of 20, having resolved to become a landscape painter, he sought tuition in watercolour from John Adam Houston RSA, but was otherwise mainly self-taught. From 1851 Paton exhibited annually at the Royal Scottish Academy where he became conspicuous for his distinctive and ‘peculiar scheme of colour with purple hills and orange skies flecked with rosy clouds’ and for his high finish and minuteness of detail reflecting his adoption of Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics and working practices.

Of the Quiraing on the Trotternish peninsula, Paton recalled that it was ‘an awful place’. The power of that memory is enshrined in his vision of three tiny kilted figures toiling up the boulder-strewn slopes on the left of the picture. This figure is almost indiscernible at first glance and completely dwarfed by an apocalyptic and other-worldly panorama of the northern Skye hills and by a sense of time immemorial embodied in the bizarre rock formations dominated by The Needle in the foreground. Yet, by the 1860s, Paton was just one of the many visitors embarking on the Oban excursion steamer for Skye, ‘where the photographer, with his camera and chemicals’ was almost permanently encamped at Loch Coruisk, ‘the hills sit for their portraits,’ and the hill sheep dislodged stones upon unsuspecting artists and tourists scrambling up the Quiraing in quest of the sublime and the terrible.

Portrait of Jean-François Regnault (1815) by Jean-Baptiste, baron Regnault has generously been acquired by a private donor from the Parisian dealers Talabardon et Gautier for the Scottish National Gallery. Over the past few years the Gallery has been deliberately building up its collection of French works of the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to complement its already excellent holdings of the Rococo from the first half of the eighteenth century (Boucher and Watteau) and of the nineteenth-century Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Regnault, who was created baron in 1829, was considered in his lifetime as a worthy rival to Jacques-Louis David, the leading figure of Neoclassicism in France at the time of the French Revolution.

Regnault had three sons, each of whom enjoyed distinguished military careers. A a proud father, he painted military portraits of all three of them in 1815. The painting acquired by the Gallery is of the second son, Jean-François (known as ‘Francesco’ to his friends). He is shown wearing the uniform of a captain of the 3e régiment de tirailleurs (3rd Rifle Regiment) with the Légion d’hHonneur pinned to his chest and bearing the scar on his forehead, depicted at his insistence, of a wound from a sabre cut sustained at the siege of Astorga in Spain in 1811.

This is the first painting by Regnault to enter a public collection in the United Kingdom. His work can be found in various prestigious galleries and museums abroad including the Louvre, Paris; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Kunsthalle, Hamburg; and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland press office on 0131 624 6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

GEORGE BAIN: MASTER OF MODERN CELTIC ART15 October 2011 – 13 February 2012SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2ELAdmission free

PRESS VIEW: 11.30 am – 1.00pm, 14 October 2011

This autumn the Scottish National Gallery, in partnership with Groam House Museum, Rosemarkie, will present a unique display devoted to the Scottish artist often referred to as the 'father of modern Celtic design.' George Bain was a key figure in the revival of Celtic art in the 20th century and devoted much of his life to the study of the intricate decorative designs used by ancient Picts and Celts. Demonstrating the artist’s great versatility, this display will feature a selection of some 55 items, including watercolours, drawings, sculptures and jewellery, as well as archival material and objects made to Bain’s designs. Much of the material has never have been on public display before.

George Bain (1881-1968) was born in Scrabster, in the northeast of Scotland. His family was on the point of emigrating, their ship docked in Leith Port, en route to Canada, when an encounter with a cousin convinced his father to stay in Edinburgh. Bain went on to study at Edinburgh’s School of Applied Art, Edinburgh College of Art, and the Royal College of Art, London before taking the post of Principal Art Teacher at Kirkcaldy High School, which he held until his retirement in 1946. Throughout his long career he exhibited frequently across Scotland, in institutions such as the Royal Scottish Academy as well as London and Paris.

Bain dedicated himself to studying the complex techniques adopted by Picts and Celts who produced intricate designs on rural stones, sophisticated metalwork and jewellery, as well as medieval illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. Bain cleverly devised mathematical frameworks that taught people the ancient principles which underlie these works, whilst still allowing for creative designs. Bain’s applied maxim was always 'Theory may inform but Practice convinces'. His manual Celtic Art: The Methods of Construction is still the most influential book on this subject and has been in print continuously since 1972.

Master of Modern Celtic Art will document Bain’s early artistic training in Edinburgh and highlight his experimentation with printmaking and drawing techniques. Immensely detailed sketches, watercolours and prints will be on display as well as actual objects adapted from his own designs, such as the Celtic ‘Hunting’ design which has featured on rugs and carpets since 1948. His manual will be on display in various editions and languages and examples of articles written by and about him will also be included.

George Bain’s beautiful craftsmanship complements the work of other artists that feature in the National collection, such as Phoebe Anna Traquair and John Duncan, who shared his passion for the Scottish Arts and Crafts movement at the start of the early twentieth century. Bain’s art, and in particular his teaching manual, has continued the Celtic renaissance and allows for the art form still to be practised today.

Groam House Museum is a small independent, award-winning museum supported by The Highland Council. The museum is situated in the Black Isle village of Rosemarkie, fifteen miles north east of Inverness; it houses an internationally important collection of Pictish sculpture and Celtic art. The George Bain Collection was donated to the museum by Bain’s family in 1998.

In 2008 Groam House Museum benefitted from a prestigious Heritage Lottery Fund Collecting Cultures Award of £99,000. These funds are being used specifically to develop the George Bain Collection and put Bain into the context of the Celtic Art Revival. Additional funds were obtained to enhance this project from: Awards for All, Highland LEADER, National Fund for Acquisitions, Art Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Highland Culture Programme. Groam House Museum is curating new exhibitions for venues during 2011-2012 in Iona, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ullapool.

This autumn the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art will launch the first in an annual series of exhibitions devoted to the Scottish Colourists. The Scottish Colourist Series: FCB Cadell will be the first major retrospective of his work to be held in a public gallery in almost seventy years and will bring together almost 80 paintings, from collections across the UK, many of which have rarely, if ever, been shown in public before.

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) is one of the four artists popularly known as ‘The Scottish Colourists’, along with S. J. Peploe, J. D. Fergusson and G. L. Hunter. Cadell’s work is perhaps the most elegant of the four: he is renowned for his stylish portrayals of Edinburgh New Town interiors and the sophisticated society that occupied them; equally celebrated are his vibrantly coloured, daringly simplified still-lives of the 1920s, and his evocative landscapes of the island of Iona.

Cadell was born and grew up in Edinburgh. In 1898, at the age of sixteen, he moved to Paris, enrolled at the Académie Julian, returning to Edinburgh in 1902. Between 1902 and 1905 he divided his time between the French and Scottish capitals before moving to Munich in 1906. He enrolled at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste and returned to Edinburgh in 1908, where he lived for the rest of his life. A trip to Venice in 1910 proved a turning-point and a series of works made there, including Florian’s Café, Venice and St Mark’s Square, Venice, show how the city inspired a newly confident use of bright colour and a loosening of technique.

In the period immediately before the First World War and based in a grand studio in George St, Edinburgh, Cadell found inspiration in the city of his birth. He revelled in the northern light of the Scottish capital, the beauty of its architecture and the elegance of its inhabitants, making them the subject matter of his art. He developed a palette based on white, cream and black enlivened with highlights of bold colour, and applied with feathery, impressionist brushstrokes. Depictions of his studio and fashionable women within them, reveal an interest in Manet, Whistler, Lavery and Sargent, as can be seen in works such as The White Room, 1915, Interior:130 George St, c.1915 and The Mantelpiece in Summer, c.1914. Cadell’s still-lives of this period are lively images based on the careful orchestration of objects including silver teapots, glasses, silhouettes and flowers.

Cadell was the youngest of The Scottish Colourists and was the only one to fight in the First World War. He served firstly with the Royal Scots and then with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. In 1916 he published the book Jack and Tommy containing witty, swiftly-executed drawings of army and navy life, but he rarely referred to the war in his work thereafter.

On his return to Edinburgh after demobilisation in 1919, Cadell moved to Ainslie Place in Edinburgh’s fashionable New Town. His work underwent an abrupt and dramatic change, thought to have been encouraged by his new surroundings, by close collaboration with Peploe, an interest in the Art Deco movement and perhaps in response to the squalor of the trenches. Cadell furnished and decorated his impressive residence with style – painting his front door bright blue to annoy his neighbours - and often turned to his surroundings for subject matter. Works including Interior: The Orange Blind, c.1927 and The Gold Chair, c. 1921 are amongst his most celebrated paintings, depicting views from one room to another within his home. A new intensity of colour, tightness of composition and flatness of paint application developed in his work, which can be seen to best effect in his still-lives of this decade, in paintings such as The Blue Fan and The Rose and The Lacquer Screen, both of the early 1920s. After the war, Cadell was no longer attempting to capture images of fashionable society, but instead was concerned with an almost abstract concept of space and perspective, creating some of the most remarkable paintings in British art of the period.

Cadell first visited the island of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides in 1912. He returned to paint there, virtually every year until his death, often accompanied by Peploe. His paintings of Iona depict a wide range of features on the island, from the Abbey to the North End and views from the island over to neighbouring Mull. Cadell captured the quality of light created by the ever-changing weather conditions on Iona, which contrasts with the blazing Mediterranean sunshine he depicted when painting in the south of France, most significantly in Cassis in 1923 and 1924.

The steady waning of the art market from the late 1920s and the mounting debts incurred due to Cadell’s lavish lifestyle saw him move home three times in the last decade of his life. As his personal circumstances declined so his official standing grew as he was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW) in 1935 and the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in 1936. Ill health was finally diagnosed as cancer and he died in Edinburgh on 6 December 1937. A memorial exhibition was held at the RSA the following year and a retrospective exhibition was mounted at the National Gallery of Scotland in 1942, which toured to Glasgow Art Gallery.

This exhibition is the first devoted to Cadell’s work in a public gallery since then and its catalogue is the first monograph to be published on him for over twenty years. The world-record price for a painting by Cadell sold at auction was achieved last year, reflecting a growing interest in his work. Highly sought after by collectors and popular with the general public, his work is represented in many public collections throughout the UK. This exhibition and the accompanying catalogue provide a timely re-assessment of Cadell’s achievements.

The exhibition will be complimented by a display of some of the objects depicted in Cadell’s paintings, including bowls, vases and a silver teapot, together with archival material such as letters and photographs.

Dickson Minto W SDickson Minto W S is a leading corporate law firm with offices in Edinburgh and London. Founded in 1985, it focuses on private equity, mergers and acquisitions, flotations, investment funds, banking work and commercial property. Dickson Minto plays an active role in the community supporting many projects in education, sport and the arts.

2012 ARTIST ROOMS TOUR ANNOUNCED – 19 new exhibitions and displays go on show at 17 venues across the UK

Martin Creed first new contemporary artist to join the Collection

The ARTIST ROOMS Game is launched

National Galleries of Scotland and Tate are delighted to announce plans for the fourth successive ARTIST ROOMS Tour in 2012 thanks to continued support from the Art Fund. In 2012 a total of 19 new exhibitions and displays will go on show at 17 venues across the UK, including six new to the project. The works being shown are drawn from ARTIST ROOMS, the collection of modern and contemporary art established through the extraordinary gift made by Anthony d’Offay in 2008, held by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation. The Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art, continues to sponsor the tour with funding of £250,000.

In 2012, ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays will be seen outside the capitals in Banff, Belfast, Bristol, Dunoon, Glasgow, Hull, Leicester, Linlithgow, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Perth, Sheffield, Wakefield and Walsall. A further venue, Mostyn in Llandudno will continue to show the work of Anselm Kiefer into the New Year. By the end of 2012, ARTIST ROOMS will have been shown in 44 museums and galleries nationwide and 92 displays and exhibitions will have opened since 2009. Over 16 million people have visited ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays to date.

This year, important new works have been donated to the ARTIST ROOMS Collection by Vija Celmins, Martin Creed and Alex Katz. Creed’s work was not previously represented in ARTIST ROOMS and he is the first new contemporary artist to join the Collection. He has donated a group of seven works which will be shown together at Tate Liverpool in 2012. Alex Katz has donated two large-scale paintings, Full Moon 1988 and Black Brook 1988; and Vija Celmins has donated a group of six mezzotint prints to complement the existing holdings of her work. The Collection has continued to grow through the generosity of artists who have responded to the national reach of ARTIST ROOMS and its vision for bringing art into the lives of young people.

ARTIST ROOMS: The Game, a new online resource will also be launched today to give young audiences the chance to put together their own virtual exhibitions, selecting works by ten artists in the ARTIST ROOMS Collection. The game offers an insight into exhibition-making in ‘real-life’, as players overcome the challenges of choosing artworks, employing staff, selecting lighting and marketing their show. They can also assess the cost, time and impact of their choices. The game also allows players to share the exhibitions they create with their friends, through social media. ARTIST ROOMS:The Game was developed byThoughtden, the Bristol-based design agency.

Highlights of the 2012 tour will include:

• Robert Therrien at new contemporary arts venue The MAC in Belfast as part of its inaugural opening programme

• The Mapplethorpe Scottish Tour which will see the work of this artist travel to Dunoon, Linlithgow and Perth

• Richard Long at The Hepworth Wakefield

• Two unique exhibitions of the work of Jannis Kounellis at Tramway, Glasgow and mima, Middlesbrough

Works donated to the ARTIST ROOMS Collection this year are:

A group of seven works donated by Martin Creed that will be shown together at Tate Liverpool in 2012: • Work No. 837 (Sick Film) 2007, four-part colour video • Work No. 890 (Don’t Worry) 2008, neon• Work No. 944 2008, twenty-one part drawing• Work No. 1102, Work No. 1103, Work No. 1104, Work No. 1105, 2011, sequence of four paintings

ARTIST ROOMS has had a profound impact up and down the country since the touring programme commenced in 2009. In 2011, Southampton City Art Gallery and John Hansard Gallery collaborated to show the biggest presentation of Warhols in the UK outside London to date, with record visitor numbers received. Southampton City Art Gallery saw over 27,700 visitors, more than double their usual numbers for the same period and John Hansard Gallery recorded some 7,500 visits. In the first three weeks of opening its Francesca Woodman ARTIST ROOMS exhibition, the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull had over 4,000 visitors.

ARTIST ROOMS was established through the d’Offay gift in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. The tour is made possible thanks to the support of the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art that helps museums buy, show and share art throughout the UK. ARTIST ROOMS On Tour with the Art Fund has been devised to enable this collection to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people.

The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. It offers many ways of enjoying art through the National Art Pass which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million to 248 museums and galleries to buy art. It also sponsors the UK tour of the ARTIST ROOMS collection – reaching several million people each year, and fundraises to help museums buys works of art. It is funded entirely by its 80,000 supporters who believe great art should be for everyone to enjoy. Find out more about the Art Fund and how to buy a National Art Pass at www.artfund.org. Media contact 020 7225 4888, media@artfund.org

ARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments.

16 August 2011Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art acquires key work by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh

SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART ACQUIRES KEY WORK BY MARGARET MACDONALD MACKINTOSH

Supported by the Art Fund

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to announce the acquisition of The Mysterious Garden (1911) by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1865-1933). This stunning work is a superb addition to the Gallery’s holding of early twentieth-century Scottish art. The acquisition has been made in celebration of the Gallery’s 50th anniversary which took place in 2010. The Mysterious Garden was purchased for £230,000 from the Fine Art Society, London with substantial assistance of £115,000 from the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art.

The Mysterious Garden is a rare and beautiful work that shows a woman artist at the forefront of developments in the arts at the beginning of the twentieth century. First exhibited almost exactly a century ago, in March 1911, at the Royal Scottish Society for Painters in Watercolour in Glasgow, it is one of the artist’s largest independent watercolours. Mackintosh’s masterpiece evokes a dream-like state and seems to render an almost child-like interior world of the imagination. It depicts a woman with her eyes closed and perhaps asleep, elaborately clothed in a voluminous ethereal dress shaped like petal. Above her stands a row of eight heads or masks which are, perhaps, part of her dream. It is thought that the work was inspired by the fairy play, The Blue Bird, by the Belgian poet and playwright, Maurice Maeterlinck, which was performed in Glasgow in 1910. This style is typical of Macdonald Mackintosh’s work and the concerns of other members of the Glasgow School; however it can also be seen as part of a wider symbolist movement across Europe exemplifying the far reaching influence of the Scottish artists at that time.

The Mysterious Garden is the first work by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh to enter the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland. It joins paintings and drawings by her contemporaries including her husband Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Phoebe Traquair, Jessie M. King and Annie French. The painting will now go on show from the 15 August until 16 October 2011 at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in a display which explores the Celtic revival style of the period.

Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh was born in Tipton, near Wolverhampton and moved to Glasgow in the late 1880s. In 1891 Margaret and her sister, Frances (1873-1921), enrolled at Glasgow School of Art and took day-time drawing classes. There she met students Charles Rennie Mackintosh and James Herbert MacNair (1868-1955). By 1894 the four young artists were participating in the same exhibitions and had begun collaborating on work. They soon became known as ‘The Four’ - also as the ‘Mac group’ and, more sardonically, as ‘The Spook School’, owing to the ghostly, spectral appearance of the figures in many of their works. As their reputations grew Josef Hoffmann, the celebrated Viennese designer, suggested that they be invited to show at the Eighth Secessionist Exhibition in Vienna in 1900. Their international reputations were cemented by the work they showed at the great International Exhibition of Decorative Art held in Turin in 1902. Their work was highly influential on many who saw it including Hoffmann and Gustav Klimt.

In 1914, owing to ill health, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret left Glasgow for London. From that date onwards she spent her time looking after him and she too suffered poor health; few works were made after this date. Mackintosh died in 1928 and she died five years later. A memorial exhibition, bringing together their work, was held in 1933 and it featured the watercolour The Mysterious Garden.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art said: 'We are delighted to have acquired this beautiful masterpiece by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. It is a rare and stunning example of work from an important era in Scottish art history and is a substantial addition to our collection from this period. We are extremely grateful to the Art Fund for their generosity in making this acquisition possible.'

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund said: 'The scarcity of works of this kind by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh means that it is a real coup that the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has been able to add this haunting watercolour to its collection. It is a much deserved 50th birthday present to the gallery.'

The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. It offers many ways of enjoying art through the National Art Pass which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million to 248 museums and galleries to buy art. It also sponsors the UK tour of the ARTIST ROOMS collection – reaching several million people each year, and fundraises: recent campaigns include bringing in £6 million to save the Staffordshire Hoard for the West Midlands and Brueghel the Younger’s The Procession to Calvary for Nostell Priory. It is funded entirely by its 80,000 supporters who believe great art should be for everyone to enjoy. Find out more about the Art Fund and how to buy a National Art Pass at www.artfund.org.

7 July 2011Portrait Gallery Murals To Be Cleaned For The First Time In A Quarter Of A Century

PORTRAIT GALLERY MURALS TO BE CLEANED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A QUARTER OF A CENTURY

A set of stunning murals, which decorates the entrance hall of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, is to be cleaned for the first time in a quarter of a century, as part of a major conservation project funded by WREN, a not for profit business that awards grants to community projects from funds donated by Waste Recycling Group (WRG) to the Landfill Communities Fund.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery opened in 1889, as the world’s first purpose-built portrait gallery. The decorative scheme created by William Hole in the late 1890s for the Gallery’s magnificent entrance hall, is one of the building’s most striking features. It comprises a dazzling, painted procession of famous Scots (including David Livingstone, James Watt, Robert Burns, Adam Smith, David Hume, the Stuart monarchs, Robert the Bruce and Saint Ninian); a series of large-scale murals, depicting scenes from Scottish history; and a beautifully detailed mapping of the night sky, which adorns the ceiling.

The work is currently being carried out under the supervision of the National Galleries of Scotland Conservation Department, working with students from UK and overseas universities, including the Courtauld Institute of Art, London; Northumbria University, Newcastle; the Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart; Winterthur University, Delaware; and Metropolia University, Helsinki. The results can be seen when the Gallery, which has recently undergone a major refurbishment, re-opens on 30 November.

William Hole’s decorative features have been central to the fundraising campaign behind this ambitious project. Supporters are invited to buy a star from the ceiling of the Great Hall or one of the figures from the historical frieze, including William Wallace and James Watt. So far over 320 stars have been sold and half of the figures, with many still available for those who wish to donate to the project.

Lesley Stevenson, Senior Paintings Conservator at the National Galleries of Scotland said: 'This is a unique opportunity to conserve William Hole’s great masterpiece – such an integral part of this spectacular building. We are delighted that so many young conservators are able to gain invaluable experience on this exciting project and are grateful to WREN for their generous support.'

Peter Cox, managing director of WREN, said: 'WREN makes a difference to people’s lives by awarding grants to community, environmental and heritage projects across the UK. We’re delighted to support the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and this valuable work to restore the entrance to its former glory.'

WREN awards grants to community, environmental and heritage projects across the UK within 10 miles of a WRG landfill site. Funding is available for community-based projects such as village halls, children’s play areas, skate parks, museums, public parks and woodland improvements, but other projects can be eligible too. Application forms and guidance notes can be downloaded from the website and assistance is available throughout the application process. Organisations and community groups requiring funding should visit www.wren.org.uk to assess their eligibility or contact WREN on 01953 717165.

Editors Notes:The Landfill Communities Fund (formerly known as the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme) gives landfill operators the opportunity to divert 6.7% of their annual Landfill Tax bill into the communities and environments around landfill sites. To date the LCF has funded over 24,000 projects with half a billion pounds in funding.Resources: www.ltcs.org.ukwww.entrust.org.uk

WREN WREN is a not for profit business that awards grants to community, environmental and heritage projects across the UK, from funds donated by Waste Recycling Group (WRG) as part of a voluntary environmental tax credit scheme called the /landfill Communities Fund. Since 1998, WREN has granted over £118m to more than 4,800 projects which benefit people living within 10 miles of a WRG landfill site.Resource: www.wren.org.uk

Waste Recycling Group Limited is one of the UK's leading waste management services companies and handles in excess of 15 million tonnes of household, commercial and industrial waste each year. Around 50% of Waste Recycling Group’s business is accounted for by waste management contracts with more than 40 local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales.

The Company operates facilities for the reception, recycling and disposal of waste, including a network of waste transfer and recycling centres and a regional network of operating landfill sites, and manages nearly 70 civic amenity sites on behalf of local authorities for use by the general public.Resource: www.wrg.co.uk

The major summer exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art this year will highlight the work of one of the world’s greatest living sculptors. Tony Cragg is a central figure in the remarkable generation of British sculptors which emerged in the in the late 1970s. Based in Germany, Cragg enjoys a huge international reputation and will have separate exhibitions this year in Edinburgh, Venice, Dallas, Duisburg, and Paris (his recent exhibition under the glass pyramid at the Louvre is the first to be staged there by a living artist). Operating from a vast suite of studios in a former tank repair garage in Wuppertal, Cragg produces some of the most extraordinary sculptural forms of our time. He is Director of one of the world’s great art academies, the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and owns and runs a 30-acre sculpture park, the Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden. Cragg won the prestigious Japanese Praemium Imperiale international art prize in 2007 and the Turner Prize in 1988 (the year in which he also represented Britain at the Venice Biennale).

Tony Cragg: Sculptures and Drawings will be the first UK museum exhibition devoted to the artist in more than a decade, and will concentrate mainly on monumental sculptures made in the last fifteen years, to be shown with a number of significant earlier works. There will also be a selection of some 100 drawings, watercolours and prints, which offer a fascinating insight into the artist’s working processes. Featuring nearly fifty major sculptures, with some of the larger works sited in the Gallery’s grounds, the exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to see the range and breadth of Cragg’s extraordinary recent and new work.

Born in Liverpool in 1949, Tony Cragg began his career as a laboratory assistant, helping to test, manipulate and develop different types of rubber. At the time he was also studying art, and began to use drawing as a means of understanding the experiments he was conducting. Cragg’s background in science can be seen to inform his imaginative, creative way approach to the making of sculpture. His work bears witness to an intense curiosity that has driven him to create, test, push and pull materials, to see what each one does: this has been a defining characteristic of Cragg’s work throughout his career.

From the early to mid-1970s Cragg studied at Wimbledon College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. On leaving the Royal College in 1977 he moved to Wuppertal in central Germany, initially for a year, but has remained there ever since. At this stage, Cragg was making works from found materials - man-made urban waste, such as broken toys, chair seats and plastic bottles - that he gathered on walks. Runner, a wall-based work made in 1985 is typical of this period, in which individual fragments of waste retained their original identity yet were reconfigured to create a seemingly unrelated image or form. Cragg is dismissive of the idea that such raw materials are ‘rubbish’: to him, the discarded plastic objects he used carry as much significance and meaning in relation to contemporary life as ancient artefacts speak of the cultures that produced them.

In the mid-1980s Cragg began casting in bronze and iron and using materials such as wood, Kevlar, plaster, steel, polystyrene and glass, which he has subsequently explored and manipulated like no other sculptor of his time, or perhaps any other. Unusually, given their scale and complexity, Cragg makes all of his sculptures by hand, employing a team of assistants to bring them to completion. This painstaking process is the stimulus to everything that the artist does - through making one work he finds inspiration for the next. In addition, this approach to his work has led to it being made in ‘family groups’ or series. Works from two of these - Early Forms and Rational Beings - will comprise the major component of this exhibition.

In Early Forms, his longest-running series of cast works, which began in the late 1980s, Cragg has created a vast array of unique sculptural forms, derived from a diverse range of vessel types - from ancient flasks to test-tubes, jam jars and detergent bottles - that are twisted and mutated together to make new forms, imagined and realised by the artist. The title refers to the fact that vessels are among the simplest and earliest surviving man-made forms and, in archaeological terms, are important markers of culture. During the 1990s the Early Forms became increasingly complex, organic and elastic in form, exemplified here by works such as Early Forms St Gallen (1997), a twisting, screw-like form which seems to be wrestling with itself and turning inside-out.

The series evolved further in the early 2000s, when Cragg made a group of more geometric works, with more structured internal dynamics. He also overcame the problems of permanently fixing colour to cast bronze by using new paint technology, producing vibrantly coloured works such as McCormack (2007) and Outspan (2006). The latter demonstrates how, in his more recent works, Cragg has incorporated the forms of a broad range of ordinary vessels: the sculpture is based at one end on a ribbed oil can which transmutes via two other vessel shapes and a shampoo bottle into an astonishing work. Another development in the Early Forms sculptures in recent years has been their elevation from the ground, as in Declination (2004), a large, two-and-a-half-ton yellow-painted bronze which stands nimbly on three points.

Cragg invariably works on several apparently unrelated series at the same time. While the Early Forms series was in progress he was also developing the Rational Beings series, which has been a major element of his output in the past decade. These works are, typically, characterised by tall columnar forms in bronze, wood, stone, plaster or steel, in which facial profiles emerge and disappear as one walks around them. They are created by an elaborate process of building up circular or elliptical cross-sections (of wood, polystyrene or stone) on a vertical axis, which are then cut and shaped to meet Cragg’s design. This, in turn, derives from an intensive process of drawing and modelling. The imposing and intricate Rational Beings works, such as Constructor (2007), Bent of Mind (2002), and Elbow (2010) are breathtaking in their complexity, and though they share a ‘family resemblance’, their diversity is a testament to Cragg’s ceaseless curiosity and experimentation, as well as his mastery of materials.

The exhibition will conclude with an example of work from the recent Hedge series. It is typical of this remarkable artist, that in something so apparently mundane as a hedge, he recognises a fabulously complicated, flexible form - an outer skin hiding something that is alive with energy underneath – upon which he can draw, taking his work yet more new directions.

The major exhibition in 2011 at the Scottish National Gallery will highlight the work of one of Scotland’s most accomplished living artists, Dame Elizabeth Blackadder. Celebrating the artist’s 80th birthday, the exhibition will present her work in all its diversity, ranging from the much-loved studies after nature, to lesser-known paintings which will challenge expectations. This landmark exhibition will span six decades of Blackadder’s career, beginning with her work in the 1950s and culminating in her most recent paintings.

The National Galleries of Scotland is delighted to announce that Baillie Gifford will sponsor the Elizabeth Blackadder exhibition. The Edinburgh-based investment management firm is a long-term supporter of the National Galleries of Scotland sponsoring their first exhibition in 1993.

Since the opening of the exhibition that launched her career in 1959, Elizabeth Blackadder has become renowned for her paintings, prints and drawings. Her work is both cherished by the public whilst being highly respected by the art establishment. She was the first woman artist to be elected to both the Royal Academy and Royal Scottish Academy and in 2001 she was honoured with the title Her Majesty the Queen’s Painter and Limner in Scotland, a role that began with Sir Henry Raeburn almost 200 years ago.

Born in Falkirk in 1931, Blackadder studied at Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art. Her early work was shaped by her acquaintance with the Scottish painters William Gillies, William MacTaggart and Anne Redpath, whom she met through her studies. Blackadder’s outstanding technical ability was visible from the outset and she thrived in an environment which focused on the primacy of drawing and observation. The exhibition will begin with early drawings of the Italian landscape and its architecture, shown alongside portraits from the period. This will include one of Blackadder herself completed when she was just twenty. These striking works still appear fresh over fifty years later, demonstrating her innate ability with paint and line.

From the 1960s onwards, the motif of still-life became key to her development. Like other individual artistic voices of her generation, such as David Hockney and Howard Hodgkin, Blackadder quickly saw the possibilities offered by the vibrant colour and dynamism of Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism. Her subsequent works injected new life into the Edinburgh School tradition of finding subject matter in the surrounding world. Dazzling canvases, such as Flowers and a Red Table, will fill the central room of the exhibition, revealing the energising effect these developments have had on her art.

Blackadder’s studies from nature are perhaps the best-known and best-loved of all her work. They illustrate a fascination which has continued throughout her long career; the desire to capture the world around her, with no subject being too small or insignificant. Under Blackadder’s analytical eye the modest form of a flower or shell is transformed into a symphony of colour, shape and rhythm. These works will be celebrated with a room dedicated to her drawings, prints and especially her watercolours produced from nature.

Blackadder has travelled widely throughout her career, with new sights and foreign cultures providing much inspiration. In the 1980s a series of visits to Japan made an indelible impression on her imagination which resulted in a burst of creativity that embraced new techniques and imagery. A room in the exhibition will be dedicated to her exploration of the country’s unique customs, objects and design and will include works such as the outstanding Self-Portrait with Red Lacquer Table of 1988. The display will also include the artist’s Japanese-inspired prints, which combine materials such as gold leaf with more conventional printing methods to create exquisite and precious works.

The exhibition will conclude with recent and new painting, drawing and printmaking by an artist who continues to work tirelessly. Endlessly inspired by the world around her, she brings the same energy to her art now as she did at the outset of what has become a long and pre-eminent career.

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland said: ‘Elizabeth Blackadder is, quite simply, one of Scotland’s greatest painters. She has revitalized long-established traditions of landscape, still life and flower painting in this country; she could be described as one of our finest painters in watercolour or equally lauded for her work as a printmaker. At once profoundly Scottish and enticingly exotic, her art is both familiar and mysterious. This major exhibition is both a celebration of her work and an invitation to look again at the achievement of an artist who could be described as a “national treasure”’

Sarah Whitley, Partner at Baillie Gifford said: ‘It is a privilege to be involved with this wonderful retrospective of one of Scotland’s most respected artists. The span of Blackadder’s career is inspiring, and we are delighted to be able to help celebrate her past works and indeed also enjoy several exciting new works’

Baillie Gifford employs 671 people and has assets under management of £74.5 billion as at 30 March 2011. An asset management firm founded in 1908, it is headquartered in Edinburgh where most of its staff live and work. Globally, Baillie Gifford manages investments on behalf of pension funds, financial institutions, charities and retail investors. Baillie Gifford plays an active role in the community by supporting projects in the areas of education, social inclusion, and the arts.

NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND AND TATE ANNOUNCE ARTIST ROOMS RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP

National Galleries of Scotland and Tate are delighted to announce the creation of an innovative Research Partnership bringing together the two museums with a Consortium comprising the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art and the Institute of Education, University of London. The Partnership is being established for a period of five years to deliver an ambitious and far-reaching programme of research into the ARTIST ROOMS Collection and its use as a shared national resource. This unique Partnership will also draw on the expertise of Learning and Teaching Scotland as an Associate Partner who will provide advice, share knowledge and facilitate connections specifically in relation to education in Scotland.

ARTIST ROOMS is a major collection of modern and contemporary art owned jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland that was established through Anthony d’Offay’s extraordinary donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. This growing collection has the special purpose of engaging young people and is being shared with galleries and museums throughout the UK thanks to the support of the Art Fund, the fundraising charity for works of art.

In line with the pioneering nature of ARTIST ROOMS, a broad programme of research will be developed by the Research Partnership encompassing art historical, technical art historical and conservation research relating to the artists and works in ARTIST ROOMS, alongside investigations into museological and pedagogical concerns. There will be a special focus on intersecting areas of research relating to the engagement of young people with the collection, with research questions developed through discussion with this target audience.

Outcomes of the Partnership will be varied, including conferences and forums, journal articles, books, teaching resources, new curatorial and interpretation strategies, technological innovations, as well as a programme of internships and PhD studentships. More broadly, the Research Partnership will promote wide research networks within the UK and abroad who share an interest in ARTIST ROOMS. The Consortium responded to an open call for tenders invited by the two museums last year, a ground-breaking approach that elicited a UK-wide competition.

Professor Andrew Patrizio, Edinburgh College of Art, who will act as Programme Director for the Research Partnership, today said: “It is an honour to be working with such a sensational collection. The ARTIST ROOMS Research Partnership will be right at the forefront of creating new models between contemporary cultural institutions and academia, reaching out to new audiences, artists, funders and researchers everywhere.”

John Leighton, Director-General of National Galleries of Scotland said: “ARTIST ROOMS has already made a huge difference to the way that modern and contemporary art is seen and appreciated by audiences across the UK. This important new partnership will create new relationships, resources and networks that will widen and deepen that impact for artists, students and researchers as well as the general public.”

Sir Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate said: “Tate is delighted to be working in partnership with these leading institutions on this important and far-reaching research which will help us to better understand the impact of ARTIST ROOMS and identify and realise the further potential of this outstanding Collection.”

Anthony d’Offay said: “I am delighted that the impact and legacy of ARTIST ROOMS will now be examined in rigorous depth by some of the UK's leading academic institutions. Through this, I hope we will find new ways of sharing and developing this Collection and forge a better understanding of what contemporary art can mean to individuals up and down the country."

The ARTIST ROOMS Collection The Collection, which will be added to over time with new acquisitions, includes over 1000 works of art, representing some 33 artists including Diane Arbus, Joseph Beuys, Jenny Holzer, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, August Sander and Andy Warhol. Since 2009 the collection has been seen by nearly 14 million people through exhibitions held at some 33 galleries and museums around the country as well as at National Galleries of Scotland and Tate sites. ARTIST ROOMS On Tourwith the Art Fund was devised to enable this collection to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people.

The Art FundThe Art Fund is the national fundraising charity, helping UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art. It offers many ways of enjoying art through the National Art Pass which gives free entry to over 200 museums, galleries and historic houses across the country as well as 50% off major exhibitions. Over the past 5 years, the Art Fund has given £24 million to 248 museums and galleries to buy art. It also sponsors the UK tour of the ARTIST ROOMS collection – reaching several million people each year, and fundraises to help museums buys works of art. It is funded entirely by its 80,000 supporters who believe great art should be for everyone to enjoy. Find out more about the Art Fund and how to buy a National Art Pass at www.artfund.org. Media contact 020 7225 4888, media@artfund.org.

THE QUEEN: ART AND IMAGEExhibition organised by the National Portrait Gallery, London in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland, Ulster Museum, Northern Ireland and National Museum of Wales.

To mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 a major exhibition will open in Edinburgh this summer. Organised by the National Portrait Gallery London in association with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, this innovative exhibition will bring together some of the most remarkable and resonant images of Queen Elizabeth II from the 60 years of her reign, some of which will be on public display for the first time. Following its Edinburgh presentation The Queen: Art and Image will tour to Belfast and Cardiff, before coming to London 2012.

From Cecil Beaton and Annie Leibovitz to Pietro Annigoni and Andy Warhol, The Queen: Art and Image will be the most wide-ranging exhibition of images in different media devoted to a single royal sitter. Formal painted portraits, official photographs, media pictures, and powerful responses by contemporary artists will be shown in an exhibition which explores both traditional representations and works that extend the visual language of royal portraiture.

Documenting the changing nature of representations of the monarch, the exhibition will show how images of the Queen serve as a lens through which to view shifting perceptions of royalty. This perspective also reflects profound social changes and the exhibition highlights important developments and events: from The Queen’s relationship with the press and the advent of new technology, to the miner’s strike and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Highlights among the many painted portraits will be Lucian Freud’s 2000-01 controversial portrait from the Royal Collection and Justin Mortimer’s painting in which The Queen’s head appears to float away from her body against a huge background of flat vibrant yellow. Among the exhibited photographers for whom The Queen sat are Annie Leibovitz, Dorothy Wilding and Cecil Beaton - including his iconic Westminster Abbey Coronation image - and Chris Levine’s compelling photograph, from a 2004 sitting, which shows The Queen with her eyes closed.

The Queen: Art and Image will show a significant selection of unofficial portraits of the British monarch from major 20th century artists including, Gilbert and George, Andy Warhol and Gerhard Richter as well as less formal portraits by such photographers as Eve Arnold, Lord Snowdon and Patrick Lichfield. Lichfield’s photographs include several relaxed images of The Queen on the Royal Yacht Britannia a location familiar to many visitors and residents of Edinburgh. The exhibition will also contain many press images taken of The Queen from throughout her reign. Scottish images from this selection will include a striking photograph documenting an official visit to the Castlemilk council estate in 1999, a surprisingly informal scene that shows The Queen having tea with a local family.

Collectively, the exhibition will celebrate and explore the startling range of artistic creativity and media-derived imagery that The Queen has inspired. It will also probe the relation of this imagery to a world of changing values during a reign that has engaged the attention of millions.

The exhibition is curated by Paul Moorhouse, 20th Century Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London

National Museum Cardiff 4 February – 29 April 2012Admission FreeMore information at www.museumwales.ac.uk

National Portrait Gallery, London 17 May – 21 Oct 2012Sponsored by KPMG Admission Charge to be confirmed For more information please go to www.npg.org.ukSpring Season 2012, sponsored by Herbert Smith LLP

PUBLICATIONThe exhibition will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated book by the exhibition curator Paul Moorhouse with an accompanying essay by historian and writer Sir David Cannadine and featuring over 60 portraits. Published by the National Portrait Gallery, London, priced £30 (hardback). Available June 2011.

CONFERENCES AND EVENTSA programme of events including lectures, tours and lunchtime talks will accompany this landmark exhibition at all venues.

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16 June 2011Winners Announced for the National Galleries Of Scotland Art Competition For Schools 2011

WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND ART COMPETITION FOR SCHOOLS 2011

Sponsored by Scottish Widows

The best young artists in the country are to be celebrated on 16 June 2011 at the Scottish National Gallery, when the prize-winners of this year’s Art Competition for Schools will receive their awards. Fantastic prizes for individual winners, classes and schools will be collected by over fifty of Scotland’s most talented young artists and their prize-winning works of art will be exhibited at the gallery throughout the summer, followed by further exhibitions elsewhere in Scotland.

A record-breaking 5,895 entries were received this year with winners coming from across Scotland including Irvine, the Isle of Lewis and Buckhaven to receive their prizes and to see their work on display at the Scottish National Gallery. Entrants faced tough competition in all six categories: nursery, primary schools (P1-3 and P4-7), secondary schools, special education schools and groups. Young artists were inspired by a variety of themes centring on key artworks from the National Galleries’ collection. As Scottish Widows is an official sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, this year young artists were asked to respond to themes with an Olympic flavour: Celebrate; Splish, Splash, Splosh; Super Shoes – Higher, Faster, Further; Move Your Body; and Traces, Tracks and Trails. Prizes include fabulous art materials for individuals, all-expenses-paid workshops (including travel costs) for classes and great resources for schools. In addition a calendar for 2012 featuring the work of the top winners will be sent to every school in Scotland as well as being for sale in all the gallery shops.

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland said: “Many congratulations to all the winners in this year’s competition. Here at the National Galleries of Scotland we are delighted that so many young people are engaging with the national collection in such a positive and creative way.”

John Penman, Director of Communications, Lloyds Banking Group Insurance and Scotland said: “The standard of entry has once again been remarkably high. As we head towards the 2012 Olympics, Scottish Widows is delighted to play its part in inspiring and supporting young people across Scotland to use their artistic talent and imagination.”

The exhibition of 53 wonderful winning works will be on show at the Scottish National Gallery from 11 June – 19 October 2011. The show will tour to other venues in Scotland. Details for this will be announced later in the year along with information about next year’s competition.

The National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for Schools aims to encourage young artists and to make the national collection accessible to children at all levels. The competition is open to every nursery, primary and secondary school child in Scotland (up to S2 level) including special education schools (around 6,000 schools in total). Since the inception of the competition in 2004, more than 1,000 schools have entered with over 25,000 children using and enjoying the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland.

The National Galleries of Scotland will today reveal the dramatic changes that have transformed the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in the two years since it closed for renovation in April 2009. The £17.6 m project, the first major refurbishment in the Gallery’s 120-year history, has restored much of the architect’s original vision of the building, clearing away an accumulation of twentieth-century interventions, and increasing the public and exhibition space by more than 60 percent. In addition, a range of new visitor facilities has been introduced, which includes a large, purpose-built education suite; an adjoining ‘state-of-the-art’ seminar room; a larger café and shop; a new glass feature lift; an ambitious interactive new media resource and a Learning and Resource Centre. Contractors have completed the work on site and the process of installing one of the world’s largest collections of portraits is about to begin. The dynamic programme of exhibitions, new interpretation and events will re-invent the way in which this world-renowned collection is displayed. The rejuvenated Portrait Gallery will re-open to the public on 30 November 2011.

An iconic landmark within Edinburgh’s World Heritage site, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery was designed by the celebrated architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, and opened in 1889 as the first purpose-built portrait gallery in the world. The refurbishment of this magnificent Arts and Crafts building has been overseen by Glasgow-based architects Page / Park, whose work has included other high-profile conservation projects such as Glasgow School of Art and the Rosslyn Chapel Conservation and Access Project. Their thoughtful and dynamic design for the Portrait Gallery will, for the first time, give the public full access to the gallery space on all three floors. Features of the design include the insertion of a mezzanine level, to accommodate office space and a new lunch room for schools, in the south east and south west wings of the Gallery, and the remodelling of the ground floor to improve circulation through the building. In addition, the magnificent suite of five top-lit galleries on the upper floor, part of which had been used as a picture store, has been restored to its intended splendour, creating one of the finest display spaces in Scotland.

The project also aims to forge an innovative and exciting new Gallery, which will place a much greater emphasis on its own uniquely wonderful resource, the permanent collection, which numbers over 3,000 paintings and a further 25,000 works on paper. While retaining a strong chronological backbone, based around the four key phases in Scotland’s history: Reformation, Enlightenment, Empire, Modernity, together with the Contemporary, the evolving programme of displays and related activities will explore the richness of Scottish history and culture in a more cohesive and interconnected way. Individual portraits will be seen, not in isolation, but in a wider context within which they can be more richly understood. Photography will be given a much greater prominence and will be integrated into displays throughout the Gallery, as well as having its own major gallery space, the first at the National Galleries of Scotland. This will feature both historic displays drawn from the Galleries’ holdings of some 38,000 photographs, and newly commissioned work by contemporary photographers.

Among the 17 opening displays will be Reformation to Revolution a major exploration of the significance of portraiture in a period of fundamental changes in religion, leadership and nationhood in Scotland, from a time of Catholic absolute monarchy in the mid-16th century, to the Protestant revolution at the end of the 17th century.

Citizens of the World: David Hume & Allan Ramsay will tell the remarkable story of Scotland’s contribution to the Enlightenment, through the portraits of the people who, considered individually and collectively, contributed to the paradigm shifts in attitudes towards humankind and the world during the eighteenth century.

Out of the Shadow: Women of 19th-Century Scotland will consider the lives of female intellectuals, writers and artists whose work helped to change the perceptions and aspirations of their female audience, and to advance the cause of women’s rights during the course of the nineteenth century.

Migration Stories will highlight both the rich cultural diversity of Scotland and Scotland’s impact on the world. Planned as an on-going series of displays, it will explore questions of Scottish identity, encompassing issues of place, belonging, exile and tradition. It will examine how migrants both within and outside Scotland continue to shape the nation. The first exhibition will look at Scotland’s links with Pakistan. Scotland’s Pakistani community is now 30,000 strong, making it the largest ethnic community in the country.

Romantic Camera: Scottish Photography and the Modern World, the opening exhibition of the new Photography Gallery will highlight some of the greatest works in the National Galleries of Scotland’s photography collections, revealing the quality and depth of our holdings. It will explore questions of national identity, with particular reference to the close relationship between romanticism and photography in Scotland. Over 60 works will be on show, ranging from iconic images by Scottish pioneers of photography Hill and Adamson, to new commissions.

Integral to the re-invention of the Portrait Gallery is an extensive and dynamic learning programme complementing the new displays, called Portrait of the Nation: Live! This programme has been devised to engage a very broad range of visitors, both on- and off-site, as well as online. It helps to realise our vision of the Portrait Gallery as a unique, responsive and essential portrayal of Scotland that will stimulate, engage and build relationships with audiences both at home and abroad.

To coincide with the preview this week, the National Galleries of Scotland will also unveil a new brand identity. Prompted by the exciting changes at the Portrait Gallery, and by the need for greater clarity across its whole estate, the National Galleries of Scotland has developed a new corporate logo, and for the first time, new brand identities for each of its three sites in Edinburgh. From 24 May gallery signage and communications will begin to refer to the new branding with the National Gallery Complex at The Mound becoming the Scottish National Gallery and the entire Belford Road site being called the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. It is hoped that these changes will improve the visitor experience, make the NGS more effective in promoting its ambitious public programme and make visitors more aware of all that the family of three sites has to offer.

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland commented: 'The new Scottish National Portrait Gallery will be a superb setting to showcase rich traditions of Scottish art and photography; it is also a forum where issues of history and identity come to life through art; perhaps, above all, it is a place where individual and collective stories and memories come together to create a fascinating and imaginative portrait of a nation.'

Colin McLean, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, said: 'The restoration of this magnificent building will allow visitors to appreciate its designer’s original vision with the added dynamism and enthusiasm of its current caretakers. The opportunity to view substantially more of the Gallery’s treasures and partake in imaginative interpretation trails or education activities will no doubt delight visitors of all ages. HLF is proud to be a partner in this transformation and we look forward to see the collection back home soon.'

• Phase 2 – Raising a further £1 millionThe second phase of the fundraising campaign has now begun in order to deliver the programme of dynamic exhibitions, to enable us to take them out across Scotland, and to set up a brand new education and outreach programme.

This summer the National Gallery of Scotland will present a unique display that will examine the work of the 16th century German artist Albrecht Dürer and his enduring influence, spanning five centuries. Dürer’s Fame will showcase a selection of his magnificent prints from the Galleries’ collection, together with contemporary and later copies of his work. These objects will be augmented by a selection of illicit imitations and surprising tributes, including a 21st century tattoo.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was the most important artist of the Northern Renaissance and is one of the most celebrated artists of all time. He excelled as a painter and draughtsman, but it was his skill as a printmaker that spread his fame across Europe. The printmaking process allowed for multiple copies of his work to be produced which could easily be sold and distributed. This accessibility, combined with his technical brilliance and highly individual style, made him a much admired and imitated artist.

The display will include many of Dürer’s famous prints, most of which have not been shown in Edinburgh since 1971, like his iconic Melancholy, Saint Jerome in his Study and Knight, Death and the Devil. To demonstrate the extent of his impact, Dürer’s Fame will also display famous examples by Italian and Netherlandish artists alongside the original works. This will include Marcantonio Raimondi’s The Circumcision of Christ (from The Life of the Virgin) and Johan Wierix’s Melencolia of 1602.

In addition this exhibition will include works by the Scottish artists John Runciman (1744-1768/69) and William Bell Scott (1811-1890), whose response to Dürer’s art is less well known. John Runciman’s painting, Christ taking leave of his Mother, was inspired by Dürer’s woodcut of the same subject. Whilst Scott’s painting, of 1854, imagines Dürer seeking inspiration on the balcony of his house in Nuremberg, highlighting his romanticized reputation in the 19th century.

The display will conclude by considering Dürer’s continuing relevance in the 21st century. An example of work from an installation which filled a Nuremberg square with 7,000 plastic hares in 2003, and a poster of German handball star Pascal Hens sporting a tattoo based on Dürer’s Study of Praying Hands will demonstrate the artist’s enduring influence today.

HIROSHI SUGIMOTOPresented by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Edinburgh International Festival4 August – 25 September 2011Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DRAdmission £7/£5 (concessions)

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Edinburgh International Festival are delighted to announce a major new exhibition of one of the world’s leading artists, the renowned Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. Consisting entirely of works which are being shown in Europe for the first time, this exhibition will feature 26 large-scale works from two of Sugimoto’s most recent, and visually poetic series, Lightning Fields and Photogenic Drawings. This revelatory exhibition will allow audiences to experience first hand Sugimoto’s exploration of the very nature of photography. The show has been extended by one week and will now run until 25 September instead of the 18 September as previously published.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Galleries of Scotland said: “Sugimoto has developed an international reputation for the sheer beauty of his images, which are as thought-provoking as they are technically stunning. We are thrilled to be premiering work from his newest series in Europe, which demonstrates a master at the very top of his game, and are delighted to be working again in partnership with Edinburgh International Festival to bring the very best of contemporary visual art to Scotland.“

Jonathan Mills, Edinburgh International Festival Director added: “Hiroshi Sugimoto’s extraordinary work presented at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is an exciting part of Festival 2011’s exploration of contemporary and classical Asian artists and their long influence on artists in the West. These are stunning images created in fascinating ways and I urge people to engage with this exhibition as part of their Festival experience.’

Hiroshi Sugimoto was born in Tokyo in 1948 and now divides his time between Japan and his studio in New York. He has exhibited extensively in major museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin; the Serpentine Gallery, London; and the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris. In 2009 he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale, an arts prize awarded by the imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association. His image, Boden Sea, Uttwil (1993) featured on the cover of No Line on the Horizon, the 2009 album by Irish rock band U2.

The Photogenic Drawings series was inspired by the innovative techniques of the 19th century photographer, Henry Fox Talbot. This pioneering artist invented ‘photogenic drawings’ by using light-sensitive paper to produce a negative in the early experimental days of photography. This process was especially influential in Scotland shaping the careers of Robert Adamson and David Octavius Hill, who went on to become one of the most famous collaborations in photographic history. Sugimoto has spent several years locating and acquiring Fox Talbot’s rare and vulnerable negatives from which to make his own photographs. The small scale of Fox Talbot’s work has been greatly enlarged by Sugimoto to reveal images that are haunting, almost painterly in their evocative power.

Lightning Fields is a series of dramatic and spectacular photographs produced through the play of violent electrical discharges on photographic film. Sugimoto moved his studio six times in an attempt to overcome a problem of static electricity which would often ruin his photographs with their tell-tale white flashes on the finished image. He decided to investigate further the phenomenon and to make ‘an ally of my nemesis’. Eventually, rather than try to suppress the random acts of nature, Sugimoto found ways to generate them by using a Van de Graaf Generator to induce electrical charges on the film. His large photographs expose in minute detail the remarkable effects of light particles not visible to the human eye. The results offer a fascinating range of interpretations, from powerful lightning strikes to images of weird and wonderful life forms.

This exhibition will be complemented by Towards the Light, a free display of prints from the National Galleries of Scotland collection that will examine the influence of 19th century Japanese colour woodcuts on artists working in Britain and Japan during the first decades of the 20th century. 19th century Japanese prints will feature as well as prints by artists using traditional colour woodcut techniques in the 1920s and 30s.

Edinburgh International Festival 2011 will run from Friday 12 August to Sunday 4 September, bringing artists from India, China, Korea, Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam to the Scottish capital. It will create an exciting opportunity for audiences to explore work by contemporary Asian artists, traditional stories from Asian regions, and the work of western artists inspired by the east.

• A work by Hiroshi Sugimoto will also feature in The Queen: Art and Image, National Gallery Complex, Edinburgh 25 June–18 Sept 2011. Please contact the National Galleries of Scotland Press Office for more details pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

SILVER CITY SOUL: A VIDEO PORTRAIT OF THE CITY OF ABERDEENA National Galleries of Scotland Outreach Project and ExhibitionTHE NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX ,THE MOUND, EDINBURGH, EH2 2EL28 April - 6 June 2011

Silver City Soul will present an innovative portrait project that searches for the soul of one of Scotland’s most historic cities. Working in partnership with Aberdeen City Council, the National Galleries of Scotland’s Outreach team has joined with the people of Aberdeen to create a collective portrait which will explore the city’s past, present and future. The resulting video and photographic work will go on display this spring at the National Gallery Complex.

The exhibition will include powerful video footage, created by artist Adam Proctor, which will be shown alongside a set of striking portrait photographs. These photographs are arranged to form a montage which stretches the full length of the gallery. Inspired by the figurative paintings of 19th-century Aberdonian artists William Dyce and John Phillip (from the National Collection and Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum Collections), the people of Aberdeen have been invited to represent themselves and their city as part of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s Portrait of the Nation: Live! Project. The project uses portraiture to create a dialogue between the individual and the community, and between the city and the nation.

Video-artist Adam Proctor has created a film that exploits the camera’s ability to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Its gaze lingers on the faces and places that make Aberdeen distinctive. Adam has been supported by a core group of active participants in exploring the living heart of the city. His film, projected onto the Gallery’s end wall, presents a powerful image of a changing city reflected in the faces of its inhabitants.

Robin Baillie, National Galleries of Scotland Senior Outreach Officer, said, 'We’re very excited about presenting Aberdeen to the nation through our video portrait of its people. This exemplifies the National Galleries of Scotland’s belief in the power of portraits and our commitment to representing the cities and regions of Scotland in the new Scottish National Portrait Gallery. We’re helping to put a face to the place and showing the creative potential of the people of Aberdeen. The portrait can help keep a human image at the centre of a changing world.'

The project, part of the Vibrant Aberdeen Cultural Strategy, continues in Aberdeen until the end of the year, The project is continuing to develop and build on its success. It will be supported by the NGS, Arts Development team and the Common Good fund, culminating in an exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery from 11 February until 24 March 2012.

For further information please contact the National Galleries of Scotland press office on 0131 624 6314/6325/6332/6247 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

ENDS

Notes to editors:

- Silver City Soul is a partnership between the Arts Development and Museums and Galleries service of Aberdeen City Council and the National Galleries of Scotland.

- Portrait of the Nation: Live! is the National Galleries of Scotland’s nationwide Education programme complementing the major refurbishment of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, due to reopen in November 2011

- Adam Proctor’s previous work can be viewed at www.fortsunlight.co.uk

- visit www.silvercitysoul.me where there is more information about the project.

- Aberdeen residents are also invited to send us in their portraits as digital stills and films by visiting the website www.silvercitysoul.me

Image Credits for Banner:

Top: Aberdeen Skyline, Adam Proctor, 2010

Centre, left to right: John Phillip, A Scotch Fair, 1848, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections; John Phillip, 'La Gloria': A Spanish Wake, 1864, National Galleries of Scotland; William Dyce, The Highland Ferryman, 1857, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Collections; William Dyce, Man of Sorrows, 1860, National Galleries of Scotland, purchased with the aid of the Heritage Purchase Grant (Scotland) 1981

Bottom: Silver City Soul Portraits, National Galleries of Scotland and Aberdeen City Council, 2011

The National Galleries of Scotland is a charity registered in Scotland (No. SC003728).

27 April 2011Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Creative Scotland Fellowship Programme 2011

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Creative Scotland Fellowship Programme 2011

In collaboration with Creative Scotland, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to announce the first appointments to the Artists’ Fellowship Programme. This innovative award aims to give artists unique access to the Galleries’ world-class collection, archives and library, to research new working methods and ideas. This year’s fellowships have been awarded to Glasgow-based sculptor Nick Evans (b.1976), and the collaborative partnership of Kim Coleman (b.1976) and Jenny Hogarth (b.1979).

This programme marks a new type of collaboration between the National Galleries of Scotland and Creative Scotland. The Artists’ Fellowship Programme will focus on supporting and enriching artists’ established research methods and in assisting the development of fresh ideas and areas of interest. By giving the artists access to the collections and to staff expertise it is hoped that the fellowship will have a long-term impact on their practice whilst offering creative ways of revealing the collection to the wider public.

Nick Evans (b. 1976, Mufulira, Zambia) studied at Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Fine Arts, Stockholm, and lives and works in Glasgow. In 2008 he held a residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre in the Netherlands. He will be researching works within the collection that demonstrate the historical fascination of the West with other cultures, traditions and concepts of exoticism.

Kim Coleman and Jenny Hogarth studied at Edinburgh College of Art, (graduating in 2000 and 2001 respectively) and were instrumental in setting up the artist-led space Embassy, which still operates in the city. For the fellowship the artists will build on previous works, and research ideas relating to looking and being looked at. They will work with technology in the galleries that alter our ways of seeing – archival equipment, video cameras, mirrors, etc - to reveal the way that these affect the viewers’ understanding or experience of an art work.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland said: 'We are delighted to build upon our collaborative relationship with Creative Scotland in this inspirational programme that puts the artist at the heart of the Gallery. This project opens up creative possibilities for the artists as much as new opportunities of engagement with the public.'

Venu Dhupa, Director of Creative Development, Creative Scotland said: 'Creative Scotland’s role is to invest in talent. This National Galleries of Scotland Fellowship contributes to our ultimate goal that Scotland is internationally recognised as an attractive place to live, learn and work as an artist.'

NEW CATALOGUE TO EXPLORE RICHES OF NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND’S COLLECTION OF ENGLISH DRAWINGS

The catalogue is generously supported by a grant from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

The rich and diverse collection of English drawings and watercolours in the National Gallery of Scotland will be the subject of a beautifully designed and generously illustrated catalogue, to be published this summer. Featuring outstanding examples of work by the most celebrated British artists, such as William Blake, J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Gainsborough, the collection is surprisingly little known; this landmark catalogue will for the first time make its full scope and importance clear. English Drawings and Watercolours 1600-1900 - the first in a new series of authoritative and scholarly catalogues about the Scottish national collection - will become a key reference work for a wide range of enthusiasts for British art, including art historians, students, collectors, dealers, artists and picture researchers.

Broad in scope, the collection of more than 2,000 works covered by the catalogue ranges in date from the art of the Stuart court in the early seventeenth century to the late Victorian period – from Inigo Jones and Sir Peter Lely to Burne Jones and Lord Leighton. Highlights include important works by artists such as John Sell Cotman, John Robert Cozens, John Flaxman, Thomas Girtin, Edward Lear, John Frederick Lewis and Paul Sandby.

Some 450 works will be reproduced in colour, and many have never previously been published. Each work will have a catalogue entry, considering in detail issues such as subject, date, function, condition and provenance, and there will be biographies of the 250 artists represented. In addition, the introduction will feature a detailed history of this part of the Gallery’s collection, which focuses on the benefactors and collectors who shaped it.

English Drawings and Watercolours 1600-1900 has been written by Christopher Baker, Deputy Director of the National Gallery of Scotland. It will run to 464 pages, and will be hardbound.

Speaking of the publication, John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland said, ‘English Drawings 1600-1900 will consider in great depth a key aspect of the Gallery’s outstanding holdings of British art; our hope is that it will assist students, researchers and enthusiasts, and inspire many future visits to study and enjoy the collections in Edinburgh.’

The catalogue can now be ordered at a special pre-publication price of £95 (for details see below). From August 2011 the full retail price will be £125.

To coincide with the publication of the catalogue a special exhibition of some thirty 18th and 19th works will be on show in London this summer. Masterpieces of English Watercolours and Drawings from the National Gallery of Scotland will be at Lowell Libson Ltd, from 23 June until 14 July. The exhibition will include major landscapes and figure subjects by Turner, Girtin, Cotman, Gainsborough, John Constable, Sandby, Samuel Palmer and Richard Dadd. Highlights will include William Blake’s magnificent God Writing upon the Tables of the Covenant (c.1805), and John Robert Cozens’ beautiful and evocative view of The Colosseum from the North (1780). The exhibition will take place during Master Drawings Week London, an annual gathering of scholars, curators, collectors and dealers, from 1 to 8 July 2011.

For further information and images, please call the National Galleries of Scotland Press Office on 0131 624 6247/ 325/ 332/ 314

To take advantage of the special pre-publication offer, please visit the NGS website at www.nationalgalleries.org, or call +44 (0)131 624 6244. The book will be dispatched on publication in August 2011. Payment is taken at the time of ordering. Offer ends 31 July 2011.

Outdoor Portrait Event at Aberdeen Football Club, Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, 1pm – 3pm, Saturday 9th April, 2011Silver City Soul:A video portrait of the City of AberdeenA National Galleries of Scotland Outreach Project in partnership with Aberdeen City Council (Arts Development and Aberdeen Art Gallery)

Silver City Soul kicks off with a mass portrait event outside Aberdeen FC’s Pittodrie Stadium (at the home end) before the Scottish Premier League game against Hibernian on Saturday 9 April. The National Galleries of Scotland, working in partnership with Aberdeen City Council, are creating a collaborative video portrait of the city and we are inviting all Aberdonians, and supporters of the football club, to join us on that day to add their portrait images to film.

Pittodrie’s spectacular position provides a great setting to portray the people of Aberdeen, and supporters of the club, who represent a proud tradition at the heart of the city - one that has made Aberdeen famous around the world. The event will be led by the filmmaker Adam Proctor, director of this inclusive film to document life in Aberdeen.

Silver City Soul aims to create a moving film portrait of the city through the faces of its people. This portrait will reveal Aberdeen’s past, present and future, its character and its role in Scottish and world history.

Adam Proctor, who is based in Aberdeen, is leading participants in this collaborative project to represent a rapidly changing city, which will be exhibited in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh from April 28 – June 6, 2011, and subsequently in Aberdeen Art Gallery, 11 February - 24 March 2012. Communities, organisations and individuals in Aberdeen will be offered the opportunity to represent themselves and the issues facing them through this project which is part of Aberdeen City Council’s cultural strategy.

The project began in November 2010, taking inspiration from figurative paintings of individuals and groups by 19th-century Aberdonian artists, William Dyce and John Phillip, that are held in the national art collection and in Aberdeen Art Gallery.

Robin Baillie, NGS Senior Outreach Officer, said, 'We’re really excited about inviting the people of Aberdeen to our mass portrait event at Pittodrie Stadium. This iconic structure will form a dramatic backdrop for individual and group portraits that will go into our film presenting the city to a national audience. We want as many people as possible to get involved to help us represent the people of Aberdeen through these portraits and be part of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s Portrait of the Nation: Live! Education project.'

The National Galleries of Scotland and Aberdeen City Council would like to thank Aberdeen Football Club for their support and contribution to the staging of this event.

For further information please contact the National Galleries of Scotland press office on 0131 624 6314/6325/6332/6247 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org

Aberdeen residents are also invited to send us in their portraits as digital stills and films by visiting the website www.silvercitysoul.me

Portrait of the Nation: Live! is the National Galleries of Scotland’s nationwide Education programme complementing the major refurbishment of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, due to reopen in November 2011

One of the best-loved paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland is to travel to the north east of Scotland for the first time this spring. The Vale of Dedham by John Constable (1777-1837) will be on show at Duff House in Banffshire, where it will be the focus of a special display from 1 April 2011.

Among the most celebrated of Constable’s works, The Vale of Dedham secured the artist’s election to the Royal Academy in London when it was first exhibited in 1828. A highly characteristic exploration of the beautiful Suffolk countryside where Constable grew up, the painting shows the dramatic landscape which had preoccupied him for over twenty years. The view follows the winding River Stour as it makes its way down the valley towards the church at Dedham village, where his father worked a watermill, and on to the estuary beyond. The composition was partially inspired by Claude Lorrain’s Hagar and the Angel (painted in 1646 and now in the National Gallery, London), which Constable would have seen in the collection of his longstanding friend and patron, Sir George Beaumont.

The Vale of Dedham is the latest in a series of high-profile loans of masterpieces to Duff House, which highlight the commitment of the National Galleries to making its collection available to audiences across Scotland. Previous loans have included Botticelli’s magnificent The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child, Titian’s Venus Rising from the Sea and most recently, Rembrandt’s A Woman in Bed.

Since it was acquired by the Gallery in 1944, The Vale of Dedham has been a favourite with visitors and in particular with lovers of British art. This is the first time that this iconic painting will have been shown in the north east, where it will join other works from the national collection - by artists such as Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88), George Romney (1734-1802) and Anne Redpath (1895-1965) - which have recently been placed on long-term display at Duff House. The first significant re-hang of the works on show at Duff House since 1995 has been prompted by plans for new displays in the refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which will re-open in November 2011. The inclusion of Redpath’s The Mantelpiece (c.1947) reflects the results of a survey of local residents, undertaken in January 2010, which revealed an interest in seeing more modern works in the house.

Speaking of the arrival of The Vale of Dedham, Rachel Kennedy, General Manager of Duff House said, ’It’s quite a coup for Duff House and the north east to receive this key work by such a well-known artist. Constable is a highly regarded British painter, and a household name familiar to many, so I hope people will come along and take a look.’

Dr Christian Tico Seifert, Senior Curator at the National Gallery of Scotland added, ’We’re delighted that the recent changes to the displays at Duff House will be complemented by the loan of Constable’s wonderful Vale of Dedham. Our continuing partnership with Duff House reflects a wider ambition to have a truly national reach, and to make the works in our care available to people across Scotland.’

Notes to Editors

Duff House was designed by William Adam in 1735, for Wiliam Duff, Lord Braco and later Earls and Dukes of Fife. This magnificent example of baroque architecture was re-opened in 1995 as a five-star country house and gallery, run in partnership by Aberdeenshire Council, Historic Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland. From 1st April the house is open daily from 11am to 5pm.

LAST CHANCE TO ENTER NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND ART COMPETITION FOR SCHOOLS 2011

Sponsored by Scottish Widows

Now is the last chance to enter the National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for Schools 2011, sponsored by Scottish Widows. Schools from across Scotland are invited to enter this innovative competition which encourages children to be inspired by the national art collection and to make their own artworks in response. The closing date for entry is the 6th May 2011, in just 7 weeks time.

Now in its eighth year the competition has attracted over 25,000 entries since its launch in 2003, all inspired by artworks from the national art collection. Exhibitions of winning work from this well established competition have travelled from Edinburgh to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Fort William, Stirling, Banff and Berwick-upon-Tweed attracting huge audiences.

There are six categories for nursery, lower and upper primary, secondary, special education schools and group entries. As Scottish Widows is an official sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, this year young artists have been asked to respond to themes with an Olympic flavour: Celebrate; Splish, Splash, Splosh; Super Shoes – Higher, Faster, Further; Move Your Body; and Traces, Tracks and Trails. Prizes include fabulous art materials for individuals, all expenses paid workshops (including travel costs) for classes and great resources for schools.

John Penman, Head of Communications of Scottish Widows, sponsors of the National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for Schools 2011, said: 'We are delighted to have been able to support such a worthwhile and inspirational competition since 2005. It is always a surprise to see the standards of the entries and the enthusiasm of young artists across Scotland. We hope this year attracts just as many as past years and very much look forward to judging the various categories alongside other panel members.'

In addition the 53 winning works will go on tour after being exhibited at the National Gallery of Scotland. Art works by the 2010 award winners are presently on show at the St. Andrew’s Building, University of Glasgow until 31st May 2011. The National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for Schools is a real opportunity to put into practice the approaches encouraged in the Curriculum for Excellence. For full details, teacher notes and images to inspire, visit nationalgalleries.org. For further information and images, please call the Press Office on 0131 624 6247/ 325/ 332/ 314

pressinfo@nationalgalleries.orgwww.nationalgalleries.org-Ends-

NOTES TO EDITORSThe closing date for the National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for Schools 2011 is 6th May 2011The Categories for the competition are as follows:

Portrait of the Nation, the project to renovate and revitalise the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, has received a £2 million funding boost from Scottish Government. Thanks to this additional grant, the initial target for the first phase of the fundraising campaign has been reached. The renovations to the building can be completed, the new services introduced and the original features restored, allowing the world’s first purpose-built portrait gallery, which opened in 1889 to be fully utilised. The completed Portrait Gallery will open on 30 November 2011.

Minister for Culture Fiona Hyslop said: 'The renovated National Portrait Gallery will be a celebration of Scottish art, culture and history displaying one of our most valued collections in an impressive and innovative space in time for the Year of Creativity in 2012. We have been a strong supporter of the redevelopment of the Portrait Gallery and I am pleased to commit this additional support to complete the building work, enabling the National Galleries to move to their next fundraising phase.'

John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland commented: 'The revitalisation of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery has been a top priority for NGS. The project is fully on track and the building is set to re-open on time later this year. The transformation within the building is simply stunning and we are delighted that this boost in funding from Government will now enable us to concentrate on raising funds for the new programmes, activities and displays at the Portrait Gallery.'

This additional grant will allow the fundraising to enter into the second phase of the campaign. A further million pounds is required to allow the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to realise the original vision of the project. The collection will be presented in a reinvigorated and more engaging way, illustrating the richness of Scotland’s history and culture with a dynamic and extensive exhibition and education programme with a new emphasis on photography and Scottish art.

MAJOR PICASSO EXHIBITION FOR SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART IN 2012

Tate Britain, 15 February – 15 July 2012Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 6 August 2012 – 4 November 2012

The first exhibition to explore Pablo Picasso’s lifelong connections with Britain will be the highlight of the summer season at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2012. Picasso and Britain will examine Picasso’s evolving critical reputation here and British artists’ responses to his work. Originating at Tate Britain, this pioneering show marks the first time that the two organisations have collaborated on a major exhibition.

Opening in August 2012 at the height of the Olympic celebrations, Picasso and Britain will comprise over 150 works from major public and private collections around the world, including over 60 paintings by Picasso. Highlights will include masterpieces from all periods of his career such as his great 1925 painting, The Three Dancers, which the Tate acquired from the artist following his 1960 exhibition and major cubist paintings from the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Pablo Picasso instigated many of the most significant developments of twentieth-century art. The exhibition will explore Picasso’s rise as a figure both of controversy and celebrity, tracing the ways in which his work was shown and collected here during his lifetime. This will demonstrate that the British engagement with Picasso and his art was much deeper than previously thought.

The artist’s enormous impact on twentieth-century British modernism will be examined, through seven exemplary figures for whom he proved an important stimulus: Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney. While many British artists have responded to Picasso’s influence, these artists have been selected to illustrate both the variety and vitality of these responses over a period of more than seventy years. Around a dozen works by each artist will be shown, each carefully chosen to illustrate a specific feature of the dialogue between that artist and Picasso.

Announcing the collaboration, Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Galleries of Scotland said: ‘This will be the most important exhibition of Picasso’s work to be held in Scotland for 65 years, bringing together around 60 of his greatest paintings with masterpieces by some of Britain’s finest twentieth-century artists. Filling the entire ground floor of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art it will be an extraordinary and revelatory show. We are delighted to be collaborating with Tate on this ambitious project.’

Penelope Curtis, Director, Tate Britain commented: ‘We are delighted that the exhibition will travel to Edinburgh. We hope that it will be one of the highlights of the festival.’

One of the most highly acclaimed and internationally successful artists working today will be the focus of a new display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art this spring. ARTIST ROOMS: Jeff Koons will bring together a selection of 18 major works, in a variety of media, charting the American artist’s career from the early 1980s until 2003. The works on display will be taken from ARTIST ROOMS, a collection of modern and contemporary art held by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation.

Following the successes of 2009 and 2010, 21 museums and galleries across the UK (including 17 venues outside of London and Edinburgh) in 2011 will be showing ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays from the collection assembled by the art collector and curator, Anthony d’Offay. ARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. ARTIST ROOMS is being shared with galleries and museums throughout the UK thanks to the support of the Art Fund - the fundraising charity for works of art - and the Scottish Government. ARTIST ROOMS On Tour with the Art Fund has been devised to enable this collection to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people.

Among the highlights of ARTIST ROOMS: Jeff Koons will be key examples from some of the artist’s most important and iconic series of works, including The New (which explores the seductive allure of pristine consumer goods), and Made in Heaven (a series of provocative images and sculptures featuring Koons and his former wife, the Italian politician and adult film-star Ilona Staller). The display will also feature works from the landmark series Banality, for which Koons is perhaps most renowned. These will include two large-scale masterpieces Winter Bears (1988), as well as Bear and Policeman (1988), an additional loan from the collection of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Germany.

Jeff Koons was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1955, and moved to New York in the mid-1970s, having studied art and design in Baltimore and Chicago. Though he is now almost unrivalled in terms of commercial success, the artist famously supported himself during his early career by working as a commodities broker, an experience which has informed the way his work engages with the commercialism and materialism of our society.

Koons made a significant impact on the New York art scene with The New, an installation of ready-made household objects first shown in 1980. These works, such as New Hoover Convertibles, Green, Red, Brown, New Shelton Wet/Dry 10 Gallon Displaced Doubledecker (1981 7), which will be shown here, featured familiar consumer goods (vacuum cleaners, in this instance) displayed as they might appear in a shop or perhaps a museum, enshrined within a glass case. This renders them obsolete as functioning objects, but elevates them to a state of perpetual perfection, their pristine ‘new-ness’ being the essence of their magnetic appeal. Encased - Four Rows (1983 93), which will also appear in the display, is one of a number of works for which Koons used basketballs as a powerful symbol of aspiration in the USA.

Using commonplace, ready-made objects, Koons consciously referred to the work of the pioneer conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), calling into question the established values of the art world, and exploring ideas of culture and taste. For the Banality series, Koons developed this approach, commissioning specialist craftsmen to reproduce inexpensive toys, dolls and figurines in polychromed wood and porcelain. Like Bear and Policeman, Winter Bears was carved by highly skilled Bavarian woodcarvers, using centuries-old techniques to recreate a miniature child’s ornament on a disconcertingly large scale.

Koons also used traditional craftsmen to create the sculptures in glass and marble, such the iconic Bourgeois Bust, which appeared in his 1991 exhibition Made in Heaven. The installation included large-format photographs of Koons and Staller (also known as La Cicciolina), locked in a series of carefully staged (and sometimes intimate) embraces, including one billboard-sized image, which will form a dramatic centrepiece to the display here.

With the Easyfun mirrors series of 1999, Koons continued to evolve a visual vocabulary drawn from popular imagery, with an instant, simple appeal. Nine of these immaculately polished works, which are based on the silhouettes of cartoon animals, are held in ARTIST ROOMS, representing the largest public holding of this aspect of the artist’s output. The mirrors’ highly-coloured surfaces are produced by combining a complex structure of crystal glass, coloured plastic interlayer, mirrored glass and stainless steel.

The most recent work in the display, Caterpillar Chains (2003), revives the artist’s interest in inflatable toys (a prominent feature in some of his earlier work). The caterpillar in question is an aluminium cast of a child’s pool toy, painstakingly painted in bright colours so that it is barely distinguishable from the plastic original. The work comes from the Popeye series, in which Koons combined cast inflatables, somewhat incongruously, with readymade objects: here the caterpillar is suspended, or perhaps constrained by vibrant red chains.

To find out more information about ARTIST ROOMS On Tour please visit www.artfund.org/artistrooms. To see the full ARTIST ROOMS collection please visit www.tate.org.uk/artistrooms and www.nationalgalleries.org/artistrooms

The Art Fund is the fundraising charity for works of art and plays a major part in enriching the range, quality and understanding of art in the UK. It campaigns, fundraises and gives money to museums and galleries to buy and show art, and promotes its enjoyment through its events and membership scheme. The Art Fund is funded by its art-loving and museum-going members and supporters who believe that great art should be for everyone to enjoy. Find out more at www.artfund.org. Media contact | 020 7225 4888 | media@artfund.org

10 February 2011Vettriano self-portrait to go on show in new Portrait Gallery

VETTRIANO SELF-PORTRAIT TO GO ON SHOW IN NEW PORTRAIT GALLERY

A self-portrait by Jack Vettriano will go on show in the new Scottish National Portrait Gallery when it reopens in the autumn of 2011. Jack Vettriano’s painting, The Weight, which has been offered on long-term loan to the national collection from a UK private collector, will be included within the opening displays. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery will reopen in November after a £17.6 million capital project to renovate and rejuvenate the building.

James Holloway, Director of the SNPG said: 'Jack Vettriano is one of the world’s best known Scottish artists. I am delighted that his self-portrait will hang in the new Portrait Gallery alongside the faces of the many other famous Scots in our collection.'

Jack Vettriano OBE said: 'This is a great honour and another benchmark in my career, and for it to happen in my father’s lifetime, makes it all the more special.'

Born in Fife in 1951, Jack Vettriano OBE, left school at sixteen to become a mining engineer. For his twenty-first birthday, he was given a set of watercolour paints and, from then on, he spent much of his spare time teaching himself to paint. In 1989, he submitted two paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy’s annual exhibition; both were accepted and sold on the first day. The following year he entered the Summer Exhibition at London’s Royal Academy. Over the last twenty years, interest in Vettriano’s work has grown and he has had solo exhibitions in Edinburgh, London, Hong Kong and New York.

Portrait of the Nation is the £17.6 million project to renovate and rejuvenate the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, in Edinburgh. It will involve the repair, conservation and creative adaptation of this magnificent Arts and Crafts building, which opened in 1889 as the first purpose-built national portrait gallery in the world.

Starting from an urgent need to restore the building, the project aims to forge an innovative and exciting new gallery. Portrait of the Nation will double the amount of gallery space within the building, and will reinvent the way in which the national collection is displayed. The project will also create a range of enhanced visitor facilities, including an education suite, a resource and learning centre, enhanced dining and retail areas. All of this will be underpinned by an innovative and far-reaching events programme.

The Portrait Gallery collection will be presented in a reinvigorated and more engaging way, illustrating the richness of Scotland’s history and culture with a dynamic and extensive exhibition programme with a new emphasis on photography and Scottish art. It aims to present portraits of people who have played a prominent role in Scottish history or contemporary life. Jack Vettriano’s work has attracted attention across the world and many of his images have become highly popular. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is pleased to be presenting this self-portrait in the new context of the renewed Gallery.

For more information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland Press Office on 0131 624 6325/6314/6247/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

Jack Vettriano's original painting, Let's Twist Again, chosen by Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, to be his official Christmas card in 2010, is now on display at The Old Course Hotel in St Andrews, ahead of being auctioned at a special fund-raising dinner on Friday 11th February 2011.The painting will be auctioned at the end of a special VIP dinner with all proceeds to be split equally between four Scottish charities: Bethany Christian Trust, Quarriers, Teenage Cancer Trust and Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres, which were selected by Vettriano himself.

31 January 2011The Artist Up Close: Portraits of Scottish Artists from the Prints and Drawings Collection

THE ARTIST UP CLOSE: PORTRAITS OF SCOTTISH ARTISTS FROM THE PRINTS AND DRAWINGS COLLECTION10 February – 5 June 2010NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2ELTelephone 0131 624 6200www.nationalgalleries.orgAdmission free

This spring The Artist Up Close will bring together a broad range of portraits of some of Scotland’s most admired artists created by themselves, their friends or family. The display will include prints and drawings from the National collection spanning the last 300 years. Portraits of Sir Henry Raeburn, Allan Ramsay and Sir David Wilkie will be shown alongside modern artists such as Eduardo Paolozzi, Anne Redpath, and Alan Davie. Whilst these artists’ names and work may be familiar, this display will put their faces and personalities in the picture.

The exhibition will contain many insightful self portraits. A striking image of Allan Ramsay (1713 – 1784) at the age of 20 already depicts a young, confident man who went on to become one of the most successful portrait painters in the 18th century. Another fascinating sketch is possibly the earliest surviving work by Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005). Drawn on the cover of a book of nursery rhymes, this youthful self portrait was created when he was approximately 11 years old.

The show will also feature portraits by family members. Kate Cameron (1874 – 1965), sister of famous Scottish printmaker D. Y. Cameron (1865 – 1945), studied at Glasgow School of Art like her influential brother. Her delicate and restrained drawing reflects his quiet and retiring personality and was probably made for her own enjoyment rather then for public display. A study of Alexander Runciman (1736 – 1785) by his younger brother John Runciman (1744 – 1768) will also be in the show. The siblings were great friends; Alexander taught John to draw and the pair travelled together to Italy in 1767, to further their artistic training.

Lastly close friendships will be represented in the show. A pair of reciprocal portraits by a young Henry Raeburn (1756 – 1823) and his mentor David Deuchar (1745 – 1808) will provide a touching memento of the older and younger artists’ friendship and mutual respect. This is a rare opportunity to see the earliest known work by Raeburn. A portrait of Jessie Marion King (1875 – 1949) by her lifelong friend Helen Paxton Brown (1876 – 1956) will also feature. The two women were fellow pupils at Glasgow School of Art and shared a studio from around 1898 until 1907.

These 32 works will showcase the breadth and variety of the Gallery’s world-class collection of works on paper and will offer a special glimpse at these fascinating Scottish artists, through their own eyes and those close to them.

ENDS

For further information and images, please call the National Galleries of Scotland Press Office on 0131 624 6247/ 325/ 332/ 314

One of the most influential photographers of the 20th century will be celebrated this spring in an exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. This major exhibition will represent a comprehensive overview of August Sander’s (1876-1964) achievements as an artist, photographer, and recorder of history. It will bring together an extraordinary group of over 170 works including his most important images and masterpieces. The works on display are taken from ARTIST ROOMS, a new collection of modern and contemporary art held by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation.

Following the successes of 2009 and 2010, 21 museums and galleries across the UK (including 17 venues outside of London and Edinburgh) in 2011 will be showing ARTIST ROOMS exhibitions and displays from the collection assembled by the art collector and curator, Anthony d’Offay. ARTIST ROOMS is owned jointly by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. ARTIST ROOMS is being shared with galleries and museums throughout the UK thanks to the support of the Art Fund - the fundraising charity for works of art, and the Scottish Government. ARTIST ROOMS On Tour with the Art Fund has been devised to enable this collection to reach and inspire new audiences across the country, particularly young people.

ARTIST ROOMS: August Sander will feature prints produced from the original negatives by the artist’s grandson, Gerd Sander and his assistant Jean Luc Differdange, both highly skilled photographic technicians and fine photographers in their own right. The works in ARTIST ROOMS have been generously placed on long-term loan to the collection by Anthony d’Offay, who continues to work with ARTIST ROOMS. In addition the exhibition includes two portfolios of vintage photographs – the Archetypes and the Siebengebirge as well as vintage photos of the artist and his family, placed on loan from other holdings.

August Sander is best known for his lifelong effort to document the German people. He undertook this extraordinary cataloguing project by photographing individuals and classifying the resulting portraits into groups defined by the sitters’ occupations, trades or places in society. This resulted in his masterwork People of the Twentieth Century that he divided into seven distinct sections: The Farmer, The Skilled Tradesman, Woman, Classes and Professions, The Artists, The City, and The Last People. Within these areas, the prints on display will include classic examples that span all the categories of professional and social types, including Painter, Asylum Inmate, Porter, Industrial Magnate, Farm Woman, Colonel, Gypsies and Street Musicians.

Sander had a unique ability to capture simultaneously the individual and the universal; his sitters remain at once distinct characters in their own right, while also representing something more about their place as part of a larger whole. These images reflect on both how alike and different human beings are.

The Farmer was the first of the typologies that Sander photographed between 1910 and 1925, first of all as a suite known as the Archetypes Portfolio. These include male and female exemplars of figures including The Philosopher, The Fighter or Revolutionary and The Sage, as well as couples defined as demonstrating ‘propriety and harmony’ and a group portrait showing three generations of a rural family. Several images have a poignant historical resonance and an uncanny sense of prophesy for what was to happen during the Third Reich and Second World War. Images of well-dressed young Jewish women and a bespectacled Jewish man made in 1938 are each titled Victim of Persecution.

The final section of The People of the Twentieth Century is entitled The Last People representing those on the very margins of society – the blind and handicapped, the homeless and destitute. Sander included as the last image in the whole project, a starkly lit photograph of the Death Mask of his son Erich Sander who died in prison after ten years of incarceration under the Nazis.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a specially designed education programme which includes a series of lunchtime lectures, film screenings and courses. From March onwards, The Filmhouse will be showing a season of films focusing on 'New Objectivity' to complement and contextualise the exhibition. A four-week course led by Dr Debbie Lewer (University of Glasgow), in partnership with the Talbot Rice Gallery, is also on offer allowing participants to explore the work of Sander and German contemporary artist Rosemarie Trockel, whose work is on show at the Talbot Rice, through lectures and gallery visits from 2 March. In addition a four-week practical course exploring black and white portrait photography is on offer in collaboration with Stills from 27 April. This will be complemented by a conference organized in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh on 5 May, bringing together leading experts from the UK and Germany, details of which will be announced at a later date.

This comprehensive exhibition will offer both admirers and newcomers to August Sander’s work an unrivalled opportunity to discover more about one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.

The Art Fund is the fundraising charity for works of art and plays a major part in enriching the range, quality and understanding of art in the UK. It campaigns, fundraises and gives money to museums and galleries to buy and show art, and promotes its enjoyment through its events and membership scheme. The Art Fund is funded by its art-loving and museum-going members and supporters who believe that great art should be for everyone to enjoy. Find out more at www.artfund.org. Media contact | 020 7225 4888 | media@artfund.org

An outstanding collection of French master drawings will be the focus of a new display at the National Gallery Complex in Edinburgh next spring. Over the last thirty years the Gallery has carefully and deliberately strengthened its holdings in this area, and is now home to one of the best collections of French drawings in the UK. Among the 60 works on show, ranging in date from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century, will be superb examples by artists such as Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, J A D Ingres, and Georges Seurat. Highlights will include an exceptional preparatory drawing by Poussin for his great painting Dance to the Music of Time, and Seurat’s Seated Nude, a study for the central figure in his celebrated painting Bathers at Asnières.

Of all the major European schools of drawing the French is one of the richest and most fertile. Its variety, as demonstrated in this exhibition, embraces the refinement and elegance of the sixteenth-century School of Fontainebleau; the playful sensualities of the Rococo period and the contrasting rigour of Neoclassicism in the eighteenth century; and the stylistic and formal innovations of nineteenth-century artists from the Romantics to the Post-Impressionists. Reflecting this diversity, French Drawings: Poussin to Seurat will feature a wide-ranging selection of drawings, from studies for ambitious, large-scale paintings, to landscape sketches made in the open air; from designs for tapestries to intimate figure studies. Underpinning the vigorous evolution of French drawing and uniting all of the works on show here is a constant delight in the possibilities offered by the medium.

The display will also feature exceptional images by a number of artists who will be less familiar to most, including a distinctive drawing of a young, pregnant Jewish woman wearing a sarma, an extraordinary cone-shaped metal headdress. The drawing, by Louis Roguin (active1843-71), was made in Algeria, where the artist appears to have spent much of his career. Also of note are a highly finished drawing by Etienne Jeaurat (1699-1789), depicting a well-to-do bourgeois Family in an Interior, and an exceptionally beautiful Study of Drapery by Joseph-Ferdinand Lancrenon (1794-1874), which points to a talent unjustly overlooked by posterity.

A richly illustrated catalogue, published to accompany the exhibition, has been written by Michael Clarke, Director of the National Gallery of Scotland. French Drawings: Poussin to Seurat was recently shown, to great acclaim, at the Wallace Collection in London.

For further information and images please contact the National Galleries of Scotland’s press office on 0131 624 6247/6325/6314/6332 or pressinfo@nationalgalleries.org.

Miss Scotland brought a splash of colour to the launch of a new partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and the People’s Postcode Lottery today.

Nicola Mimnagh admired masterpieces on show at Edinburgh’s National Galleries and showed off her own artistic skills to help mark the new relationship which will see the Galleries receive vital unrestricted funding from the charity lottery.

The 24-year-old also handed over a cheque for £159,364, the amount raised by People’s Postcode Lottery players for the National Galleries of Scotland to date.

The funding will help fund new exhibition and education programmes at Edinburgh’s National Galleries, the Dean Gallery, the Modern Art Gallery and the soon to be reopened Portrait Gallery, making art more accessible for people in Scotland.

John Leighton, Director-General at the National Galleries welcomed the launch of the new partnership, saying:'The People’s Postcode Lottery provides fantastic support to a range of charities across Scotland and we are delighted to become one of their beneficiaries. The National Galleries of Scotland looks after amazing collections of art from Scotland and from all over the world. The funding from the People’s Postcode Lottery will be a major boost to our efforts to increase access to these great collections and will be used to fund exhibitions, displays and educational activities that will help the public and especially younger people to enjoy and to be inspired by our national art collections.'

Clara Govier, Head of Charities for the Lottery added:'The People’s Postcode Lottery is delighted to bring the National Galleries on as our newest charity partner here in Scotland. The National Galleries of Scotland hosts one of the most impressive collections of national and international art in the world. Scotland has an incredible wealth of artistic heritage and we’re very proud that our players can contribute to this legacy.'

People’s Postcode Lottery – a charity lottery where members play with their postcodes to win prizes and raise cash for good causes – has raised over £11 million for charities to date. Here in Scotland, over £7.4 million has been awarded to charity partners including the Woodland Trust Scotland, Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, Scottish Wildlife Trust and CHILDREN 1ST.

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Notes to Editors

About People’s Postcode LotteryPeople’s Postcode Lottery is the lottery for local charities in Scotland, England and Wales. Our mission is to raise funds for charities and to increase awareness for their work.

People’s Postcode Lottery represents a unique fundraising concept where players play with their postcode to win cash prizes whilst supporting local charities. 20% of the proceeds from ticket sales go to our selected charities (£2 from every monthly ticket) and the money raised by players in each individual country (Scotland, England, Wales) stays in that country.

How to playFor £10 per month players are given a unique ticket number which is based around their postcode. That number is entered into a £1,000 Daily Draw and five Street Prize draws each month. Once a month, one lucky player also wins an Audi A3.

Over 500 postcodes win prizes in each Street Prize draw and one lucky postcode is drawn as the Street Prize winner. All players with the winning postcode (eg AB1 2CD) share a £30,000 Street Prize while all players in the winning postcode sector (eg AB1 2) share a £5,000 Sector Prize.

Three times a year we hold ‘Postcode Million’ events, which see players in one lucky postcode area share a massive prize pot of at least £1 million.

Prizes for all People’s Postcode Lottery draws are awarded and shared out by ticket so the more tickets you play with, the more money you stand to win if your postcode is drawn.

Players can sign up by Direct Debit or credit card online at www.postcodelottery.com, by calling 0808 10-9-8-7-6-5 or through coupons they receive in direct mailings. Winnings are transferred directly into the player’s bank account.

Why Direct Debit?People’s Postcode Lottery is a monthly subscription lottery. A player’s participation in our five monthly draws is guaranteed by a Direct Debit payment of £10 per month.

The monthly subscription model allows us to raise regular financial support for our charity partners. It also allows us to pay prize